Republican Senator Pressures Agencies on Regulatory Review

In his new role as chairman of a regulation subcommittee, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Wednesday launched an effort to pressure agencies to explain their priorities and progress in fulfilling President Obama’s mandate that they review existing regulations that might be dated, too costly or burdensome.

In a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, Lankford, who serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, asked for itemized progress reports on how many regulations have been reevaluated since January 2011, and how many of those evaluations have resulted in changes in the Code of Federal Regulations or changes to other agency guidance. He also wanted to know what the department’s priorities are in performing the regulatory look-back.

In addition, Lankford asked what Labor has done to improve public participation during comment periods for proposed rules, and how its reviews of regulations comply with the 2010 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act.

Similar letters were sent to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior and Agriculture departments, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., according to a Lankford spokesman.

The effort is part of Lankford’s Cut Red Tape initiative, which he unveiled this March in cooperation with his panel’s ranking member, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. It aims to establish a central website on which the public can submit stories that illustrate how to make regulations function better.

A Labor spokesman told Government Executive, “We have received the letter and we are reviewing it.”