Senator James Lankford continued his campaign to alert the Obama Administration about its overreach and wants answers from agencies using regulatory guidance as a way around the law. He’s the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management. Lankford has questioned on several occasions use of regulatory guidance.
Thursday’s hearing was the third such hearing.
“I understand that regulatory guidance is a useful and needed tool to transmit key information to regulated parties,” said Lankford. “However, we must address the fact that, at times, agencies use guidance as a way to get around the law. I was disappointed with what I heard today from the Obama administration witnesses. The Department of Labor acknowledged that when their latest rule goes into effect this year, non-profit institutions will suddenly have a jump in administrative costs based on their new overtime rule; but their answer was to encourage donors to give more, not withdraw the harmful rule. The Department of Education stated that they will honor the court orders that have already blocked their regulatory overreach, but they do not acknowledge that they have overstepped their legal boundaries.”
The witnesses at the hearing were Office of Management and Budget Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Howard Shelanski, Department of Labor M. Patricia Smith, and Department of Education official Amy McIntosh. Lankford has additional questions for the witnesses which will be submitted for the record and should receive responses within 30 days.
The hearing can be seen here.
