Republicans fret ‘midnight regulations’ from Obama

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Hill:

Republicans are sounding the alarm about a deluge of “midnight regulations” that could be pushed through agency pipelines in the waning days of the Obama administration.

 

It has become increasingly common for outgoing presidents to preside over late-term bursts of rules, as they look to cement their marks on Washington and accomplish remaining policy goals before they exit the White House.

 

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, for instance, each issued flurries of regulations in the weeks between the election of their successor and their departure from office.

 

Republicans — who warned of a torrent of new rules ahead of the 2012 elections, only to see President Obama re-elected — are already raising the specter again, even though there is more than a year left in the current administration.

 

“This administration has already dropped a lot of controversial regulations, and I’m a little concerned about what could be coming at the last moment,” Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) told The Hill.

 

The remarks followed GOP interrogations of the Obama administration’s top regulatory official last week in the House and Senate. Lawmakers repeatedly asked Howard Shelanski, administrator of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), whether the administration plans to open the floodgates to allow new rules after the 2016 election.

 

The OIRA is responsible for scrutinizing major rules issued by federal agencies to make sure they are cost-effective and efficient.

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