Center for Progressive Reform

CPR's Steinzor Testfies on Regulatory Process

by Matt Freeman

This morning, the Center for Progressive Reform's Rena Steinzor testifies before the House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. In her remarks, she calls on the White House to reshape the role of the director of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs -- the so-called regulatory czar. All too frequently OIRA has been the place where protective regulations go to get weakened or killed, and Steinzor argues forcefully that there's a better role for the OIRA director: a defender of federal regulatory agencies and their missions, rather than an impediment to regulation. She says:

The Obama Administration and Congress should define a new mission for the regulatory czar. The American people need more, not less regulation on every front, from mortgage lending to workplace hazards. The regulatory czar’s mission should be to rescue struggling regulatory agencies by helping them to obtain more resources and stronger legal authority.

Her testimony is online, here. And the news release is here.

A few related documents:

CPR’s white paper on regulatory review in the Obama Administration, Reinvigorating Protection of Health, Safety, and the Environment: The Choices Facing Cass Sunstein (1/26/09).
Rena Steinzor’s letter (written together with CPR Member Scholar Wendy Wagner) to John Holdren, President Obama’s top science advisor, on policy recommendations for “clean science” reforms (4/3/09).