Chamber: Obama executive order on regulations 'positive first step'

January 19, 2011

The Hill

Bernie Becker

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday welcomed President Obama’s push to roll back excessive regulations that could hinder economic growth.

Tom Donohue, the Chamber’s president and chief executive, said in a statement his group plans to work with the government on the issue and praised the president’s move as “a positive first step.”

But Donohue also said that America’s regulatory system was broken and needed fundamental reform.

“Congress should reclaim some of the authority it has delegated to the agencies and implement effective checks and balances on agency power,” said Donohue, who also called for “repealing or replacing outdated or ineffective regulations, ensuring realistic cost-benefit analyses using quality data.”

“No major rule or regulation should be exempted from the review,” the Chamber president added, “including the recently enacted health care and financial reform laws.”

The president declared in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Tuesday that his administration was trying to strike a balance between promoting economic growth and protecting the public from abuse. To that end, Obama announced he was signing an executive order ordering a broad review that would look to remove “outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive” –

The move comes as the administration increasingly appears to be reaching out to the business community, following the debates over both health care and Wall Street reform and the at times acrimonious 2010 midterm elections.

The president, for instance, is scheduled to make an address at the Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 7.

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