Haley Stevens: “I want to address the regulatory accounting provision in section 645 of the Treasury-postal appropriations bill, H.R.…”

“I want to address the regulatory accounting provision in section 645 of the Treasury-postal appropriations bill, H.R. 3756. I believe the public has the right to know the benefits of Federal regulatory programs, as well as their costs, which have been estimated to be $600 billion per year. To address concerns raised by Senators Glenn and Levin, I made technical changes. First, subsection 645(a)(1) requires OMB to provide estimates of the total annual costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs in the upcoming fiscal year. This includes impacts from rules issued before fiscal year 1997, not just new rules. But OMB need not assess costs and benefits realized in preceding years. I deleted the word ``cumulative'' to clarify that. OMB should use the valuable information already available, and supplement it where needed. Where agencies have, or can produce, detailed information on the costs and benefits of individual programs, they should use it. I expect a rule of reason will prevail: Where the agencies can produce detail that will be informative to the Congress and the public, they should do so. Where it is extremely burdensome to provide such detail, broader estimates should suffice. Subsection 645(a)(3) requires OMB to assess the direct and indirect impacts of Federal rules on the private sector, State and local government, and the Federal Government. Beyond compliance costs, regulation also creates a drag on real wages, economic growth, and productivity.”