A great political stroke of genius of Team Bush has been the creation of the moderate tone implied by the “compassionate conservative” banner. Why, you’d think George W. would suffer from repetitive-motion injury for all the many times he’s mouthed it.
But while all the words and charm suggest moderation, the substance of regulatory policy being pursued by the Bush White House actually has more in common with bottom-line economics of corporate boardrooms. This is not surprising considering Bush is a former businessman who now considers himself the ultimate CEO.
The regulatory regime that will reign supreme in the Bush administration will be based on a cost-benefit analysis model. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since wrong-headed federal regulations have the potential to hurt firms of all shapes and sizes. But the cost-benefit approach opens the door for dollars and cents to trump sound public policy.
What’s coming down the pike will encompass everything regulatory under the sun.
Bush is cleverly overhauling policy across the board, leveraging the power of the presidency and the GOP’s control of Congress.
On Jan. 20th, the day George W. was sworn in, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card launched a government-wide regulatory review. New FCC Chairman Michael Powell, otherwise in lock step with the Bush program, surprised skeptics by saying he didn’t plan to hold back any telecom regulations for further review. I was impressed with the FCC chairman’s steely stance, but less so after I learned that Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.)-ranking minority member of the House Commerce Committee-had written Powell and other independent federal agency heads on Feb. 22 about how they planned to respond to the Card memo. Dingellgrams have a way of changing minds in official Washington.
Last week, congressional Republicans reached into their grab bag of tricks and pulled out the Congressional Review Act to kill the Clinton ergonomics rule. The CRA, which requires no hearings or committee votes and prohibits a Senate filibuster, means more now than when it was enacted in 1996. This is because at that time there was a Democratic president who wielded a veto pen.
Another key to the regulatory overhaul is Bush’s appointment of John Graham to be administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget. Graham is founding director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis and a peer reviewer of cell phone-cancer research conducted by Wireless Technology Research L.L.C.
Labor unions and liberal Democrats are howling with anger. The Republican deployment of the CRA, perhaps even more than the Bush tax-cut debate, has set the tone for the 107th Congress. Ergo, the honeymoon is over.
