Chamber Urges Congress to Stop Agencies from Skirting Regulatory Review Process

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The United States Chamber of Commerce urged lawmakers to correct loopholes in the Unfunded Mandates Relief Act that permit federal regulatory agencies to lowball the cost of a proposed rule and obstruct the congressional review process, during testimony on Capitol Hill today.

"Federal regulatory agencies should not be allowed to avoid congressional mandates by mischaracterizing the cost of a rulemaking for state and local governments and the private sector," said Scott Holman, CEO of Bay Cast, Inc., testifying on behalf of the Chamber. "While UMRA is a significant legislative achievement, deficiencies enable agencies to propose costly federal mandates without providing the information necessary to debate and scrutinize their potential impact."

Under both UMRA and the Congressional Review Act, Congress clearly demands that agencies provide accurate information regarding the impacts of proposed or final rules. However, since Title II of UMRA does not require an independent review of the potential impacts, an agency could deliberately underestimate the costs of a proposed rule or conclude that they do not have to provide an impact statement.

"With a workable Title II, UMRA statements on the Total Maximum Daily Load water discharge and National Ambient Air Quality rules would have included important information to frame the debate on water and air quality issues for Congress, the private sector, state and local governments and administration officials," said Holman. "The failure of UMRA in these and many other instances represents squandered opportunities."

The Chamber recommends establishing independent analysis by the GAO or OMB of impact statements submitted by agencies and to permit early judicial challenges to an agency's failure to prepare UMRA statements. The Chamber also supports passage of the Mandates Information Act to improve congressional review of proposed federal private sector mandates included in legislation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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