Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., said Monday that action on regulatory reform legislation he has introduced with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is "up in the air," with the committee's time taken up by hearings on campaign finance abuses.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution with Levin, Thompson said the committee is likely to continue the campaign finance hearings until October or November, complicating action on the regulatory reform bill.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., last week said he wants the Senate to act on the regulatory reform bill by October. Levin and Thompson introduced the bill last month with a bipartisan list of co-sponsors, including Governmental Affairs ranking member John Glenn, D-Ohio.
Levin said the bill is designed to win more support for government regulatory efforts by making regulations more reasonable, cost effective and understandable. In addition, he noted the bill does not impose a "supermandate" requiring regulations under existing environmental statutes to be based on cost-benefit analysis.
The bill does not affect the outcome of the regulatory process, Levin said, but makes the process more transparent and accountable. Thompson added the bill would not put federal judges in charge of writing regulations.
While the Clinton administration has yet to take a position on the Thompson-Levin bill, Levin said it would codify existing White House procedure for Office of Management and Budget review of proposed rules.
However, a Natural Resources Defense Council analysis of the bill, released last week, said provisions requiring courts to consider the analyses in determining whether a rule is arbitrary and capricious would inject cost considerations into health-based laws for the first time. The NRDC said in a statement that cost estimates would dictate the actions agencies take to protect the public.
In addition, Gregory Wetstone, the group's legislative director, told CongressDaily that the bill would hold up FDA efforts to regulate tobacco.
NEXT STORY: Regulating Regulators