Obama works around Congress on healthcare, climate change policy

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The Hill:

ia - 12/30/10 06:00 AM ET
Republicans are preparing an array of budgetary, legislative and political strategies to fight regulatory action by President Obama.

Without Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a majority in the House, Obama is expected to rely heavily on his executive power to influence policy over the next two years.

To counter that effort, Republicans hope to cut off funding for the new healthcare law and, through legislation, to block efforts by agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and the Internet.
“We will not allow the administration to regulate what they have been unable to legislate,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said last week.

The White House’s regulatory work already has stirred outrage among Republicans and business groups, which argue the White House is trying to enact policies through regulatory action after failing to win support from Congress.

These include greenhouse gas standards, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net-neutrality rules and the inclusion of advanced care planning in a Medicare rule after a similar provision was scrapped from the administration’s healthcare overhaul.

White House efforts to issue major regulations are “unprecedented,” said Reed Rubenstein, senior counsel for the environment, technology and regulatory affairs division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The business lobby is devoting significant resources to oversight of the administration’s regulatory agenda, specifically regarding transparency and efficiency.