Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5226 – Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016

(House Rules)

(Rep. Walberg, R-MI, and 14 cosponsors)

The Administration is committed to ensuring that the regulatory process remains transparent and that agencies issue regulations, guidance, directives, and policy statements in compliance with all existing laws and Executive Orders. H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016, would impose duplicative, vague, and unnecessary procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from efficiently performing their statutory responsibilities and potentially lead to a less informed public. For these reasons, the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 5226.

The Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016 would be duplicative and costly to the American taxpayer. The separate tracking and reporting of agency communications as prescribed by the bill is unnecessary, is extremely burdensome, and provides little to no value while diverting agency resources from important priorities. In fact, much of the information it would require already is reported twice a year in the Unified Agenda, which is publicly available at www.reginfo.gov. The manner by which agencies communicate to the public on regulations and their associated impacts already is covered by the Administrative Procedure Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Information Quality Act, several long-standing Executive Orders, and agency-specific statutes. Reporting each and every communication would dramatically increase the cost of regulation to the American taxpayer.

Passage of H.R. 5226 would undermine long-established regulatory frameworks by adding unhelpful, duplicative, and burdensome procedural requirements on agencies, while increasing the cost of regulation to the American taxpayer.

If the President were presented with H.R. 5226, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.