OMB Reports on the Costs and Benefits of Regulation

Regulatory 'Underkill'?

Each year, the White House Office of Management and Budget submits a report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulation.  During the Bush II years, OMB used the report to argue against the value of regulation in general, presenting a slanted evaluation of the regulatory process in service of a pillar of the right wing's agenda:  "regulation bad."  CPR Member Scholars responded regularly to OMB's reports, pointing out their statistical deceits, and arguing on behalf of regulations aimed at protecting Americans from a variety of hazareds -- in consumer products, the environment, chemicals in commerce, on the job and more.  Their work on this issue:

• Editorial Memo.  Read "Regulation Makes a Comeback," an October 1, 2008 editorial memorandum by CPR Member Scholar Rena Steinzor on what the autumn 2008 Wall Street crisis tells us about the dangers of deregulation of environmental health and safety.
• Op-Ed.  Read "Reviving Regulation," by CPR Member Scholar Rena Steinzor, published in the September 28, 2008 Baltimore Sun.
• Underkill White Paper.  CPR Member Scholars William W. Buzbee, Robert L. Glicksman and Sidney A. Shapiro collaborated on "Regulatory Underkill: The Bush Administration's Insidious Dismantling of Public Health and Environmental Protections" (CPR White Paper #503).
  
• Comments and Testimony on OMB's Annual Reports to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Regulation:
  • 2008 Comments, by Amy Sinden and James Goodwin.
  • 2007 Comments, by Amy Sinden and Sidney Shapiro.
  • 2006 Comments, by  Amy Sinden.
  • 2005 Comments, by Thomas McGarity and Amy Sinden.
  • 2004 Comments, by  Frank Ackerman and Lisa Heinzerling (then a Member Scholar).  Testimony by Robert Verchick on the 2004 Draft Report to Congress.
  • 2003 Comments, by Lisa Heinzerling, then a Member Scholar.  Her Testimony on the 2003 Draft Report to Congress.
  • 2002 Comments, by Thomas McGarity.
• CPR Perspectives.  Read Amy Sinden's CPR Perspective on OMB Annual Report & 'Hit List' and William Buzbee's Strategies of Regulatory Underkill.