Killing Safeguards Softly: The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act

Senate Puts Brakes On Bill That Would Quietly Weaken All of our Nation's Safeguards & Protections

As of November 15, S. 3468, lawmakers have put the brakes on the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has opted to hold a hearing on the bill to gather more public input, rather than rushing the bill to markup without any public hearings. This delay is a great victory for standards and safeguards. This terrible bill would make it more difficult for independent regulatory agencies like the SEC and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to respond quickly to emerging crises and protect Americans from harm.

But the fight is far from over. The bill has only been delayed, and it could still be considered after Thanksgiving. It will take more dedicated effort on the part of concerned citizens to prevent this dangerous legislation from becoming law. We’ll keep fighting; you should, too.

S 3468

“Let me turn to another issue that concerns me... [The] whole reason that Congress creates independent regulatory agencies is to insulate them from administration policies, whether it’s a Democratic or Republican administration. Congress has deemed that this particular area needs to be protected from the changing agendas of different administrations. If you bring these independent agencies within the regulatory purview of OIRA, you defeat the whole purpose of having them be independent agencies.”

-Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

The innocent-sounding Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act poses a subtle but insidious attack on public protections. It would delay—or prevent altogether—crucial reforms to improve financial regulation, consumer and product safety, oversight over nuclear facilities, and more.

Shifts Power to Executive Branch

Congress establishes independent agencies when it judges that the policy area affected needs to be insulated from the political pressures associated with being part of the executive branch. These agencies include the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a majority of the financial regulators charged with policing Wall Street and keeping our economy stable.

The bill politicizes the regulatory process by moving accountability of independent agencies to the executive branch, representing a historic shift in the balance of power and giving the White House the authority to prevent or delay any new rule or standard it happens to oppose.

Costly and Redundant Practices

The bill would overwhelm independent agencies with new hoops and hurdles, leading to delay and costly redundancies with the requirements these agencies already have in place.

For example, virtually every independent financial agency is already required to do formal economic analysis, and to consider costs and benefits in rulemakings. In addition, each is required to consider small business and paperwork impacts. Existing statutory and legal requirements for analysis, and legal challenges related to these requirements, are already a major source of delay in financial agency rulemaking,. S. 3468 would further encumber new rules of the road for Wall Street.

Procedural Black Hole

Opponents of standards and safeguards know that changing the process by which regulations are developed changes the entire game. No longer would an opponent of a rule have to come out and explain his position to the public: instead, proposed standards and safeguards would be sent into a procedural black hole and allowed to die in obscurity.

The bottom line: if passed, this bill would make it harder for the government to protect the American people.

Current Status of S. 3468:

We won! The markup on this bill has been canceled!

However, there is still a possibility of a hearing by the HSGAC committee after Thanksgiving, so we need to remain vigilant. But thanks to your efforts, we have halted this rushed markup and allowed more people's voices to be heard.

Proponents of this bill hope to skirt the legislative process, ramming it through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee quickly after the election, without so much as a single hearing.

See the broad opposition to S. 3468 in letters from independent regulators and CSS partners