by Mike Hall, Jan 30, 2007

Very quietly, the Bush administration recently set into motion a new plan to rein in the experts, scientists and professionals at federal agencies charged with protecting the public’s health, worker safety, the environment and more.

In an executive order signed Jan. 18, The New York Times reports Bush ordered:

that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) told the Times:

The executive order allows the political staff at the White House to dictate decisions on health and safety issues, even if the government’s own impartial experts disagree. This is a terrible way to govern, but great news for special interests.

The Times reports that according to the White House:

the executive order was not meant to rein in any one agency. But business executives and consumer advocates said the administration was particularly concerned about rules and guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA].

The Bush order applies to all significant new rules and regulations. It also says before any rule is issued, an agency must show there is a “specific market failure” such as costs being shifted from employers or industries to the workers or the public.

But as AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Peg Seminario points out:

In OSHA’s case, the agency is supposed to set standards to protect workers against a significant risk of injury and illness. Market failure is not a requirement.

An analysis of the order by the group OMB Watch says the order will “further politicize” agency rule-making practices. The Bush order, says Rick Melberth, director of Regulatory Policy at OMB Watch:

Is a further threat to public protections from an administration committed to elevating special interests over public interests. It substitutes free market criteria for the public values of health, safety, and environmental protections, and substitutes executive authority for legislative authority

The OMB Watch analysis says:

…The Bush administration has regularly appointed industry representatives or allies to oversee agency regulatory activities. Often this has been dubbed “foxes in the hen house.” The [executive order] adds a new dimension by having the foxes control the hen houses.

The amendments require each agency to have a Regulatory Policy Office run by a political appointee and that “no rulemaking shall commence nor be included” for consideration without the political appointee’s approval.

In addition, Bush also put new restrictions on the more informal “guidance” advice that agencies provide to businesses and industries, including White House review. The guidance documents, usually requested by companies, are not legally binding but are designed to help firms or industries with technical or policy questions. From 2001-2005, OSHA issued 574 guidance documents, many aimed at the construction industry.

Even before the order, the Bush administration has been accused of putting ideology and corporate influence ahead of science and the public need.

Check out today’s hearing by Waxman’s House Oversight Committee on Government Operations that is looking to manipulation and pressure by the Bush administration of government scientists investigating global warming and climate change.

Also take a look at the AFL-CIO’s BushWatch that documents more than six years of Bush actions.

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