In testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in mid-April, Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), was asked to comment on a much-disputed $1.75 trillion estimate of the annual cost of federal regulations. The number comes from a report commissioned by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, often referred to as the Crain and Crain report, for its authors. The $1.75 trillion estimate is grossly at odds with OIRA’s own calculations, but it has been widely bandied about by anti-regulatory advocates on the Hill. Sunstein might well have been expected to knock the question out of the park back in April, but the bat never left his shoulder. “I haven’t studied that document with care,” he said (see 63:50 – 66:43 in the video archive of the hearing).
He’s apparently been studying up. Today, in testimony before the Oversight and Investigations subpanel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Sunstein denounced the figure as “deeply flawed,” And went on to note that the study had become “an urban legend,” hinting at how Republican Members of Congress and industry lobbyists have been citing it to support the REINS Act and other troubling anti-regulatory safeguards legislation.
Sunstein deserves praise for telling it like it is. Several months ago, CPR issued a white paper describing the blatant and numerous flaws in the SBA report. Soon after, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service issued a report reaching similar conclusions. It’s hard to know which of those debunkings of Crain and Crain caught Sunstein’s eye, but the important news is that the Administration’s point person on regulation has had enough of the fiction-spreading business that has been at the heart of anti-regulatory forces’ rhetoric of late.
As it happens, it was just yesterday that CPR Member Scholar Sidney Shapiro called on Sunstein to denounce the study. While it would have been better if he’d denounced the number months ago, before it started turning up in congressional floor speeches and op-eds with such ubiquity, the denunciation is very welcome.
I applaud Sunstein for taking a stand against the use of the Crain and Crain report’s overblown estimate. Its use has served as a barrier to meaningful and productive policy discussions about the U.S. regulatory system over the last six months. Let’s hope this is just the first step for the Administration, and that it will change some of its own rhetoric on regulation, too. In the past, Sunstein and the President have sometimes adopted industry’s rhetorical frame for the conversation, casting regulation as an inescapable drain on the economy that must be whittled down to a nub. Instead of such pandering, it should adopt rhetoric that champions well-designed regulations as a positive good for society. That will require a vigorous defense against regulatory opponents’ specious attacks—as Administrator Sunstein did today. And, it will also require making an affirmative case for regulation, strongly and effectively communicating to the public that effective regulations are needed to protect people and the environment against industrial excess and shortsightedness.
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James Goodwin | June 3, 2011
In testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in mid-April, Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), was asked to comment on a much-disputed $1.75 trillion estimate of the annual cost of federal regulations. The number comes from a report commissioned by the Small […]
Dan Rohlf | June 3, 2011
Few things in politics are certain, but it’s a safe bet that Barak Obama will not carry the state of Utah in his 2012 re-election bid. But despite its dismal electoral prospects in the state, the Obama Administration knuckled under to pressure from Utah and other western Republicans this week when Secretary of Interior Ken […]
Lena Pons | June 2, 2011
For the last two decades, scientists have amassed evidence that bisphenol A (BPA) poses a threat to human health. BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic, can liners for food and beverages, and thermal paper used for register receipts. It is used in so many applications that the Centers for Disease […]
Sidney A. Shapiro | June 2, 2011
The Obama administration has been busy with its regulatory look-back, which required agencies to identify health, safety, and environmental standards to be reviewed in the coming months, with the possibility of eliminating or modifying them (in some cases, the specific proposal for modification or elimination was already made last week). In explaining why the look-back […]
Daniel Farber | June 1, 2011
Cross-posted from Legal Planet. I’ve just spent some time reading the initial briefs in the D.C. Circuit on the endangerment issue. They strike me as much more political documents than legal ones. A brief recap for those who haven’t been following the legal side of the climate issue. After the Bush Administration decided not to […]
Matt Shudtz | May 31, 2011
OSHA published a report (pdf) last week on its role in the federal government’s response to last year’s massive oil spill. Within days of the blowout aboard the Deepwater Horizon, OSHA officials were in Louisiana, working to ensure that the people involved in the response and cleanup had adequate protection from the myriad hazards they would […]
Holly Doremus | May 27, 2011
Cross-posted from Legal Planet. I was excited to read this story in the LA Times, saying that BOEMRE and NOAA had reached an agreement that would give NOAA more say in decisions to approve offshore drilling. (Draw whatever conclusions you like about what my geeky excitement says about how boring my life must be.) This […]
Amy Sinden | May 26, 2011
Following up on President Obama’s January Executive Order calling for agencies to conduct a regulatory “look-back,” the Administration today released a target list of health, safety, and environmental standards to be reviewed by agencies in the coming months, with an eye toward eliminating or modifying them. The President’s January announcement was driven by politics, and […]
Rena Steinzor | May 25, 2011
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Cass Sunstein heads to the American Enterprise Institute Thursday morning to speak about federal agencies’ plans to “look back” at and review existing regulations. Meanwhile, agencies statutorily obligated to protect public health and safety, such as EPA and OSHA, are diverting resources from pressing work so that […]