'Abolish OIRA': Left hopes Biden would reform regs shop

摘要

"Abolish OIRA" might not have the same brand recognition as "Abolish ICE," but some progressive policy wonks are increasingly hopeful that a Biden administration would demolish and rebuild the obscure White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. That's one of the aims of a recent report from the Center for Progressive Reform. The plan, "Beyond 12866," outlines ways that a new administration could transform the regulatory process to reestablish safeguard protections so the public is the "locus of concern of policy-making." The title refers to Executive Order 12866, signed by former President Clinton, which built upon the framework that allows OIRA to weaken or kill major proposed rules opposed by influential and politically connected industries, wrote James Goodwin, CPR senior policy analyst. Progressives loath the order because it casts the regulatory process, as he put it, as a "regrettable but necessary evil that must be minimized at all costs." The order gave more power to OIRA, the White House office where about 50 desk officers scrutinize significant proposals of the administrator's choosing.