U.S. President Barack Obama is ordering a review of federal regulations to remove rules that stifle economic growth, he said in an op-ed in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.
Obama will sign an executive order directing federal agencies to undertake a review with the goal of removing rules that “stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive,” he wrote in the article.
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“This order requires that federal agencies ensure that regulations protect our safety, health, and environment while promoting economic growth,” Obama wrote. “We are seeking more affordable, less intrusive means to achieve the same ends.”
Following his inauguration in 2009, Obama launched a review of federal regulations, including an analysis of costs versus benefits and how wider disclosure can help consumers make decisions. Tuesday’s order will help simplify a “patchwork of overlapping rules” and encourage the development of new regulations with the input of “experts, businesses, and ordinary citizens,” he said.
“We’re looking at the system as a whole to make sure we avoid excessive, inconsistent, and redundant regulation,” the president wrote.
Obama also defended the importance of government regulations that set the right balance between “freedom of commerce” and the protection of consumers.
“The benefits of these regulations exceed their costs by billions of dollars,” he wrote. “We can make our economy stronger and more competitive, while meeting our fundamental responsibilities to one another.”
Obama’s predecessors, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, each issued executive orders providing an overall framework for regulatory decision-making in their administrations. As an interim measure, Obama rescinded Bush’s order and replaced it with the Clinton order shortly after taking office.
