Congress mandates study of regulatory costs, benefits

Congress has once again approved a measure to require the government to conduct a study of the costs and benefits of all federal regulations.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., added the language to the fiscal 2000 Treasury-Postal Appropriations conference report that was approved by the Senate Thursday and by the House a day earlier.

Thompson added similar language to the omnibus appropriations bill last year, following a similar effort by Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, in 1996.

The move comes as Thompson pushes a bill that would make permanent the annual study of regulations. Adding the measure to a spending bill only applies for one year.

Earlier this year the House passed complementary legislation, but the measure has not been brought to the Senate floor.