The Obama Administration has issued a veto message on
the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act , HR 4078, which
would prohibit any federal agency from taking any significant regulatory action
until the Secretary of Labor reports that the Bureau of Labor Statistics
average of monthly unemployment rates for any quarter after the enactment of
the Act is 6 percent or less. HR 4078, which passed the House by a vote of
245-172, would also require the SEC to conduct a more thorough cost-benefit
analysis of proposed regulations.
According to the
Administration Statement of Policy, HR 4078 would undermine critical public
health and safety protections, introduce needless complexity and uncertainty in
agency decision-making, and interfere with agency performance of statutory
mandates. The Administration is committed to ensuring that regulations are
smart and effective, that they are tailored to advance statutory goals in the
most cost-effective and efficient manner, and that they minimize uncertainty.
But HR 4078 would impede the ability of federal agencies to protect
public health, welfare, safety, and our environment, as well as to promote
economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job
creation.
In the Administration’s view,
the passage of HR 4078 would seriously undermine the existing regulatory
framework. The Act would also add layers of procedural burdens that would
interfere with agency performance of statutory mandates, unnecessarily delay
important public health and safety protections, and undermine and potentially
delay important environmental reviews. For example, HR 4078 would create
excessively complex permitting processes that would hamper economic growth. It
would also spawn excessive regulatory litigation, and introduce redundant
processes for litigation settlements. It also addresses numerous problems that
do not exist, such as a moratorium on "midnight" rules.
When
a Federal agency promulgates a regulation, noted the Statement of Policy, the
agency must adhere to the strong and well understood procedural requirements of
federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act, the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act,
and the Congressional Review Act. In addition, for decades, agency rulemaking
has been governed by Executive Orders issued and followed by administrations of
both political parties. These require regulatory agencies to promulgate
regulations upon a reasoned determination that the benefits justify the costs,
to consider regulatory alternatives, and to promote regulatory flexibility.
Through
Executive Orders and the direction of the President, agencies must also ensure
that they take into account the consequences of rulemaking on small businesses.
Executive Order 13563 requires careful cost-benefit analysis, increased public
participation, harmonization of rulemaking across agencies, flexible regulatory
approaches, and a regulatory retrospective review. Through Executive Orders
13579 and 13610, the Administration also has taken important steps to promote
systematic retrospective review of regulations by all agencies. Collectively,
these requirements promote flexible, commonsense, cost-effective regulation.