By Joe Lindsley -
Writing at the Weekly Standard, Adam J. White comprehensively explores President Obama’s regulatory agenda. The president’s first term was bad enough:
“The Obama administration’s first three years of major rules, costing up to $26.7 billion, were five times more burdensome than the Bush administration’s first three years ($5.3 billion) and three and a half times more burdensome than the Clinton administration’s ($7.6 billion).”
But there is oh-so-much more in store, especially as more and more portions of Obamacare come into effect per that law’s craft, lengthy deployment schedule. White helps explain the scope of these oft-hidden laws that will surprise many of us in the coming months and years. And he also looks at the roots of the problem, including Congress:
“Passing broadly worded statutes, Congress claimed credit for solving environmental, financial, or other policy problems, but handed off to regulators the discretion to tackle those problems however they saw fit. The creation of “independent” agencies did not merely make the agencies ‘independent’ of the president and Congress; they made Congress “independent” of—that is, unaccountable for—the agencies.”
If you’re concerned about regulations, it might be worth taking some time to read White’s article.
