Mike Levin: “the bill before us would establish a new statutory standard for the Secretary of Transportation to meet when issuing a…”

“the bill before us would establish a new statutory standard for the Secretary of Transportation to meet when issuing a standard for pipeline safety. Section 4 of the bill provides that: ``Except where otherwise required by statute, the Secretary shall propose or issue a standard under this Chapter only upon a reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended standard justify its costs.'' When the Senate was debating governmentwide regulatory reform legislation earlier in this Congress, much of the debate focused on the issue of whether or not it was appropriate to set an across-the-board standard for the application of cost-benefit analysis to major rules. We referred to this issue as ``decisional criteria''--which basically meant the standard to be applied by the agency in selecting a rule for promulgation based on an analysis of the rule's benefits and costs. We were unable to reach agreement.”