U.S. Chamber Hails Amendment to Executive Order On Regulations

Says Will Help Curb Excesses of $1 Trillion Regulatory Regime

WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today applauded President Bush for amending Executive Order 12866 to help tame an out-of-control regulatory system that costs the American public $1 trillion annually.

"President Bush's amendment is a paragon of common sense and good governance," said William Kovacs, the Chamber's vice president of Environment, Energy, and Regulatory Affairs. "It's the first truly significant attempt by an administration to hold federal bureaucrats to account and insist they act with discretion when imposing new and expensive burdens on businesses and consumers."

The amendment to Executive Order 12866, first issued by President Bill Clinton in 1993, would require federal agencies to identify the specific market failure the proposed regulation is intended to address before issuing it, as well as obtain the approval of the agency's Regulatory Policy Office. It would require agencies to assess the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all the regulations they plan to issue in a year. The amendment applies to both regulations and guidance documents.

"Regulations play an important role in ensuring the safety of our citizens and guarding against corporate abuses, which is why it's so important that we have a well-functioning, rational rulemaking process," said Kovacs. "That's not what we have today, and this amendment will go a long way toward fixing it."

There are currently 192,000 federal regulations on the books, and more than 500,000 guidance documents. The number of regulations has been increasing by approximately 4,000 annually, according to the Chamber.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

www.uschamber.com

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