NCL commends Blumenthal, Senate for oversight hearings – National Consumers League
August 1, 2013
Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org
Washington, DC –The National Consumers League commends Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct) and the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights and Agency Action for holding its first hearing on August 1, 2013 on a needlessly byzantine and slow regulatory process that has very real costs for workers, consumers, and the broader public.
Regulatory review times at the Office of Management and Budget are now the longest in 20 years and have spiked sharply since 2011. The pace of rulemaking has slowed sharply in 2012 and 2013, with the White House holding up rules on issues as diverse as energy efficiency that could save billions of dollars each year, silica exposure rules for workers, and backover protection technology regulations in cars and trucks that are intended to save the lives of small children.
“The truth is that years of sensible and strong regulations have helped to keep our water and air clean, our toys safe, our cars far more protective, our drugs pure, our food free from contaminants and our product labeling more honest,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “NCL has been critical of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for bottling up an array of critical worker and consumer safety regulations without proper authority or justification.”
“We are gratified that the Senate Judiciary Committee will be conducting its essential function in providing oversight to the work of government agencies like OMB and OIRA and thank Senator Blumenthal for his leadership,” Greenberg added. “It is high time OIRA’s ‘paralysis by analysis’ was brought under appropriate scrutiny.”
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
