Obama Regulation Freeze Wins Praise Obama Suspends ‘Midnight’ Bush Regulations
Washington, D.C., January 21, 2009—The Obama administration’s decision to suspend last-minute Bush regulations drew praise from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The new administration announced on Tuesday its decision to suspend implementation of many of the Bush administration’s last-minute rules. In a memo addressed to all “executive departments and agencies,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel ordered a freeze on nearly all Bush administration regulations mostly emanating from the dying days of the last administration.
“This decision by the Obama administration is an important signal, suggesting that the new administration is going to pay attention to our regulatory system,” said CEI Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer. “That's a good thing.”
“The Bush presidency issued a huge amount of new regulations,” Lehrer continued. “People are mistaken if they think of the Bush administration as deregulatory. And, particularly after the election, many regulations it issued were either poorly thought out or flawed in their implementation. A period to pause and review can only do the nation well.”
“Given the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), I hope this bodes well for the future,” adds Iain Murray, Senior Fellow in Science, Technology and Medicine. “I would expect that all future regulations will be subject to a 'Sunstein test' - if they are precautionary in nature or fail a cost-benefit analysis test, they should not go forward. That will be a great advance in our regulatory procedure. If Professor Sunstein is stymied in this, then it will show we aren't in a new era, after all.”
The regulatory freeze was recommended by CEI Vice President of Policy Wayne Crews in November last year, when he said, “Upon raising his hand from the Bible after taking the Oath of Office, President Obama should declare a one year freeze on all new government regulations; he’d naturally exempt those he regards as addressing immediate threats to public health and safety.”
Read the November 2008 open letter to the Obama administration by Wayne Crews.
Read the coalition letter to the Bush administration opposing “midnight” regulations.
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