Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

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Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is an office of the United States Government

Federal government of the United States

The Federal Government of the United States is the central current reigning United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution....
that Congress established in the 1980 Paperwork Reduction Act

Paperwork Reduction Act

The Paper Reduction Act, officially the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812 , codified in part at Subchapter I of Chapter 35 of Title 44 of the United States Code, through , is a United States federal law enacted in 1980 that gave authority over the collection of certain information to the Office of Manag...
. OIRA is located within the Office of Management and Budget

United States Office of Management and Budget

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The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is an office of the United States Government

Federal government of the United States

Paperwork Reduction Act

United States Office of Management and Budget

The Office of Management and Budget is a United States Cabinet-level office, and is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States ....
, which is an agency within the Executive Office of the President. It is staffed by both political appointees and career civil servants, who have been carrying out the same kinds of economic analysis and related analyses for the past 20 years. In addition to reviewing draft regulations under , OIRA reviews collections of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and also develops and oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information technology, information policy, privacy, and statistical policy.

Executive Order 12866 describes OIRA's role in the rulemaking process. In it, the President directs agencies, to the extent permitted by law, to follow certain principles in rulemaking, such as consideration of alternatives and analysis of impacts, both benefits and costs. As the Executive Order directs, OIRA reviews agency draft regulations before publication to ensure agency compliance with this Executive Order.

The current OIRA Administrator as of April 2007 is Susan Dudley

Susan Dudley

Susan E. Dudley , an American academic and a political appointee in the administration of George W. Bush. Dudley was appointed by Bush in April, 2007, via a recess appointment to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs , Office of Management and Budget....
, who succeeds acting Administrator . From 2001 to March 2006, OIRA was headed by John D. Graham

John Graham (policy analyst)

John D. Graham is dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs .John D. Graham began his tenure at SPEA this year....
, who departed to accept the deanship of the . Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein

Cass Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein is an United States law scholar, particularly in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and law and behavioral economics....
is President Obama's choice for the next Administrator.

The issuance of Presidential regulatory principles, and the centralized review of draft regulations, has been part of regulatory development for 30 years in one form or another. This began with President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
's "Quality of Life

Quality of life

Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people.Quality of life cannot be measured directly, however the perception of QOL is made up of of two components: the physical and the psychological....
" program, and continued in the 1970s with President Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974....
's requirement in Executive Orders and for agencies to prepare inflation

Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. The term "inflation" once referred to increases in the money supply ; however, economic debates about the relationship between money supply and price levels have led to its primary use today in describing price inflatio...
/economic impact statements and with President Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
's Executive Order 12044 on "Improving Government Regulations."

The OMB review process became more formalized in 1981 with President Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
's Executive Order 12291, which was in effect from 1981 to September 1993 (the Reagan and Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Bush held a variety of political positions prior to his presidency, including Vice President of the United States in the administration of Ronald Reagan and Director of Central Intelligence under Gerald R....
Administrations and the first nine months of the Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
Administration). In September 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12866. During the Reagan administration, the White House had reviewed 2,000 to 3,000 regulations per year, but under Clinton, the total dropped to between 500 and 700 a year.

As amended by President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was the 46th List of Governors of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before being United States presidential inauguration as President on January 20, 2001....
's Executive Order 13,422, the covers federal agencies' "guidance documents", in addition to regulations. The Order's stated purpose is to ensure that agencies, to the extent permitted by law, comply with the regulatory principles stated in Executive Order 12866 and that the President's policies are reflected in agency rules. It also specifies procedures for the resolution of conflicts between or among agencies.

In July 2007, a controversy arose in the U.S. Congress over George W. Bush's executive order (Executive Order 13422, signed by Bush in January 2007 and due to take effect on July 24, 2007) giving the OIRA additional powers. The House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
voted to prohibit OIRA from spending federal money on Executive Order 13422.

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

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