OBAMA: HOPE, CHANGE, TRANSPARENCY....RIGHT...

From the FEDERAL REGISTER/VOL. 74, No. 15/JANUARY 26, 2009/NOTICES

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE

PRESIDENT

The White House Office

Memorandum for the Heads of

Executive Departments and Agencies

January 20, 2009, Washington, DC.

From: Rahm Emanuel, Assistant to the

President and Chief of Staff

Subject: Regulatory Review

President Obama has asked me to

communicate to each of you his plan for

managing the Federal regulatory process

at the beginning of his Administration.

It is important that President Obama’s

appointees and designees have the

opportunity to review and approve any

new or pending regulations. Therefore,

at the direction of the President, I am

requesting that you immediately take

the following steps:

1. Subject to any exceptions the

Director or Acting Director of the Office

of Management and Budget (the ‘‘OMB

Director’’) allows for emergency

situations or other urgent circumstances

relating to health, safety, environmental,

financial, or national security matters,

or otherwise, no proposed or final

regulation should be sent to the Office

of the Federal Register (the ‘‘OFR’’) for

publication unless and until it has been

reviewed and approved by a department

or agency head appointed or designated

by the President after noon on January

20, 2009, or in the case of the

Department of Defense, the Secretary of

Defense. The department or agency head

may delegate this review and approval

power to any other person so appointed

or designated by the President,

consistent with applicable law.

2. Withdraw from the OFR all

proposed or final regulations that have

not been published in the Federal

Register so that they can be reviewed

and approved by a department or

agency head as described in paragraph

1. This withdrawal is subject to the

exceptions described in paragraph 1 and

must be conducted consistent with OFR

procedures.

3. Consider extending for 60 days the

effective date of regulations that have

been published in the Federal Register

but not yet taken effect, subject to the

exceptions described in paragraph 1, for

the purpose of reviewing questions of

law and policy raised by those

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