No balance of power in Obama’s America

The Obama administration bypassed Congress and secretly created more than 1,000 new rules and regulations last year, according to a new watchdog report.

After a scathing report in The Washington Post, the Obama administration was forced in 2014 to publically acknowledge it was abusing balance of power by initiating new regulations without congressional input.

At the time, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Howard Shelanski apologized for the administration’s disregard for the Congressional Review Act, which requires agencies to present new regulations to lawmakers for review.

“I absolutely agree that agencies should uphold their obligations to report these rules,” he testified.

But the American Action Forum, which keeps tabs on government regulatory schemes, says that Obama officials have fallen short on that promise.

In fact, the problem has gotten worse.

The American Action Forum reports that it discovered “955 rules weren’t sent to GAO in 2014 and roughly 1,069 weren’t reported in 2015.”

That means last year, at least one third of the 3,408 new government rules to hit the books were issued with little public knowledge and no congressional input.

Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, said of the organization’s discovery:

Despite assurances from Administrator Shelanski, agencies still do not follow basic legal reporting requirements. Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive, and without compliance from the administration, this oversight grows more difficult. Beyond the hundreds of minor rules that weren’t reported correctly, it is troubling the White House and GAO can’t even agree on major regulations.

Beyond a lack of government transparency, that these new rules aren’t being thoroughly reviewed can mean costly consequences for American businesses and citizens. If the administration fails to report new regulations, legislators don’t have the opportunity to demand further review when the Government Accountability Office and Obama officials disagree on the economic impact of costly new rules.

 

The post No balance of power in Obama’s America appeared first on Personal Liberty®.

from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/no-balance-of-power-in-obamas-america/

from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/no-balance-of-power-in-obamas-america/