Report Discovers 'Pattern of Failure' to Serve Public

OMB Watch's new report, The Bush Regulatory Record: A Pattern of Failure, analyzes the last year of federal regulatory activity for four key agencies charged with serving the public interest and places its findings in a broader four-year context. The agencies studied are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The report finds that, even though overwhelming majorities of the public believe the government plays an important role in protecting the public interest, the Bush administration continues to shape regulatory policy in ways hostile to the public interest. It continues to abandon work on documented public health, safety and environmental problems, and has done virtually nothing to identify other priorities needing attention. It cannot meet even short-term benchmarks for action, and is allowing proposals for addressing long-identified needs to languish on its regulatory agenda. Finally, what little this administration has accomplished is made to weak to meet the public's needs. The report is available, along with charts of supplemental information at www.ombwatch.org/files/regs/patternoffailure.
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