Obama orders review to curb regulatory excess

Obama orders review to curb regulatory excess    In an effort to repair relations with the business community, President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered executive branch agencies to review federal regulations under their jurisdiction and determine which ones are harming economic growth.
   He also directed the federal government to make a greater effort to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses.
   Agencies proposing new regulations need to ensure, to the extent possible, that benefits exceed the cost and that rules are scientifically driven, obtain the input from stakeholders and the public, coordinate with other agencies to prevent overlapping requirements, and that they consider approaches that give regulated entities greater flexibility to comply, according to the executive order.

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   Federal offices have four months to modify, streamline, expand or repeal rules that are ineffective, redundant or otherwise burdensome to companies, without undermining safety, health, public welfare, job creation or other goals, the order said.
   In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, President Obama said he wants to strike the right balance between vibrant market competition and safeguarding public health, safety and economic fair play.
   Obama said the executive order simply reinforces the balancing principle that has been in place since the start of his administration.
   'Where necessary we won't shy away from addressing obvious gaps: new safety rules for infant formula; procedures to stop preventable infections in hospitals; efforts to target chronic violators of workplace safety laws. But we are also making it our mission to root out regulations that conflict, that are not worth the cost, or that are just plain dumb,' he wrote.
   That approach is behind the Environmental Protection Agency's recent elimination of a rule that required companies to treat saccharin as hazardous waste even though the Food and Drug Administration has declared the artificial sweetener safe for human consumption, he said.
   'But creating a 21st-century regulatory system is about more than which rules to add and which rules to subtract. As the executive order I am signing makes clear, we are seeking more affordable, less intrusive means to achieve the same ends — giving careful consideration to benefits and costs. This means writing rules with more input from experts, businesses and ordinary citizens. It means using disclosure as a tool to inform consumers of their choices, rather than restricting those choices. And it means making sure the government does more of its work online, just like companies are doing,' Obama said.
   The National Association of Manufacturers applauded the White House's decision, highlighting Environmental Protection Agency attempts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act as a real threat to the competitiveness of its members. Opponents say the Clean Air Act doesn't cover greenhouse gases and that such curbs need to be done legislatively.
   Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made regulatory reform one of its top four priorities for 2011. Chamber President Tom Donahue said the 'regulatory tsunami' coming from the Obama administration poses 'the single-biggest challenge to jobs, our global competitiveness and the future of American enterprise.'
   The EPA proposal, for example, would require businesses seeking to expand or add facilities to obtain pre-construction permits that take six to nine months to obtain at a cost of $100,000 per permit, he said.
   He called for a law giving Congress the right to vote up or down on major rules before they take effect and strengthening the burden of proof agencies would have to demonstrate in court when imposing major rules.
   Obama is scheduled to give a speech at the U.S. Chamber's headquarters, which overlooks the White House, next month as part of his rapprochement with the business community. ' Eric Kulisch