Several legislators have argued that Congress should review and affirm by vote all new regulations, including those written to carry out past legislation. This would increase accountability in two ways. First, regulatory agencies could no longer interpret congressional intent in ways that increase their budgets and expand their power without improving human health or environmental conditions. Second, Congress could not continue blaming regulatory agencies for bad regulations. If costly and ineffective regulations became law, the voters could hold legislators accountable.
Regulatory reform is long overdue.
The Thompson-Levin bill is a small step in the right direction. But if the 1997 Regulatory Improvement Act becomes law, future legislators might be emboldened to race on to more comprehensive regulatory reform. This Brief Analysis was prepared by H. Sterling Burnett , environmental policy analyst with the National Center for Policy Analysis.