Jonathan Cohn has a post in The New Republic linking the recent bad eggs to the larger theme of the unitary executive, particularly the increased oversight that manifests itself in the Office of Management and Budget approving major agency rules.
This is not a story that begins with the administration of George W. Bush. It begins, instead, with the administration of Ronald Reagan. Convinced that excessive regulation was stifling American innovation and imposing unnecessary costs on the public, Reagan’s team changed the way government makes rules.
Prior to the 1980s, agencies like the FDA had authority to finalize regulations on their own. Reagan changed that, forcing agencies to submit all regulations to the Office of Management and Budget, which cast a more skeptical eye on anything that would require the government or business to spend more money. The regulatory process slowed down and, in many cases, the people in charge of it became more skittish.
People don’t tend to line up in two camps of OMB review approval vs disapproval. But in any event, the post is a nice read for administrative/policy fans.
