Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is claiming the Obama administration tried to hide its upcoming roadmap for new regulations by releasing it in the days before Thanksgiving.
“At this point, the federal government should be doing everything it possibly can to encourage and support economic growth, especially in the industries that have proven to be successful – instead they’re slapping a mountain of new rules and regulations on our job creators,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “While most of America was enjoying their turkey and stuffing, the administration was stuffing our economy with burdensome and expensive regulations.”
{mosads}Ahead of Thanksgiving last week, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget released its fall version of the Unified Agenda, a twice-annual list of regulatory actions that agencies across the federal government plan to take in coming months.
The release was the third time the regulatory roadmap has been issued to the public immediately ahead of a national holiday. The spring version of the agenda was issued on July 3, ahead of Independence Day. Last year only one version was published, ahead of the holiday season in late December.
The agenda lists hundreds of regulations currently in the works and expected in the next few months.
Among those are controversial upcoming regulations outlining how chain restaurants will be required to post information about the calories in their food, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration effort to limit workers’ exposure to cancer-causing silica dust and plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from future and existing power plants.
Some agencies have come under fire for what isn’t in it.
The Securities and Exchange Commission backed off a regulation that would have forced companies to disclose their political spending. A coalition of more than 50 groups on Tuesday said that that omission amounted to “a step back” for the agency.