OMB Watch - Fwd: Tell Your Senators to Stop White House Interference in the Regulatory Process

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

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I strongly urge you to support a provision in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill which would prohibit the White House from using funds to implement Executive Order 13422 and the OMB good guidance bulletin.

These executive decrees would broadly alter our federal regulatory process. Together, they would:
--Require Regulatory Policy Officers, a position in each agency, to now be political appointees, and expand their power to be able to quash regulations before the public ever knows about them.
--Shift the criterion for promulgating regulations from the identification of a problem like public health or environmental protection to the identification of a market failure, leaving the definition of market failure in the hands of OMB reviewers.
--Sweep guidance documents - statements agencies use to clarify policy and better enforce regulations - into a White House review process, creating the possibility of endless delay.

Ultimately, these changes would undermine the ability of federal agencies to protect the public.

President Bush is pursuing these changes without consulting Congress. The people's branch of government should stand up for a regulatory system that responds to public need, not political interests.

These changes will take effect July 24 unless Congress acts to stop them. The House has already approved similar legislation. The bill is currently in the Appropriations Committee but will soon reach the Senate floor. Please support the provision in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

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