Soft Law Reform or Executive Branch Hardball: The Ambiguous Message of Executive Order 13,422

Abstract

While the Bush Executive Order was supported by long-time proponents of regulatory analysis, pro-regulatory groups, who are suspicious that regulatory analysis is a cover for deregulation, were outraged. Not too surprisingly, OMB Watch concluded that E.O. 13,422 and the OMB Bulletin on Good Guidance Practices represented dangers both to our constitutional system and to the health and safety of all Americans. Public Citizen saw the Order as a scheme to undermine not only the knowledge and expertise of regulatory agencies, but also the ability of the 110th Congress to protect the public from health and safety hazards. It even implied that the White House was giving itself the power to roll back the Democratic gains in the 2006 congressional election, at least where domestic regulatory policy was at issue. The Union of Concerned Scientists urged the Senate to use the confirmation hearings for former U.S. Representative Jim Nussle to head the OMB to try to ensure that "political appointees would not [use E.O. 13,422 to] interfere with the work of agency scientists."