White House responds to Boehner's concerns over expensive regulations

The White House on Tuesday responded to concerns raised by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that recently enacted reforms would stifle economic growth by inundating businesses with complex rules. 

"In our effort to promote job creation and economic growth — especially among small businesses — we have directed agencies to develop burden reduction initiatives designed to improve administrative efficiency by reducing duplicative requirements," acting head of the White House Office of Management and Budget Jeffrey Zients stated in a letter. "We have asked agencies to highlight rulemakings meant to simplify and streamline regulations, and we have systematically worked to improve regulations that have significant benefits to economic growth which helps entrepreneurs and businesses across the country." 

Zients's response was connected to a letter from Boehner on Monday that stated the "administration's published regulatory agenda includes a total of 191 planned rulemakings, each with an estimated annual cost to our economy of $100 million or more, and that a number of these planned rulemakings may each have an annual economic cost in excess of $1 billion." 

The Acting Director responded by saying the first year of the Obama administration issued fewer economically significant rules than were issued in the last year of President George W. Bush's second term. 

"In fact, the net benefits of regulation from our first year are estimated at a positive $3.1 billion, as opposed to at least negative $300 million in the first year of each of the prior two administrations," Zients wrote. "With respect to your question of pending regulations with a projected annual cost to our economy of over $1 billion, approximately 13 of 95 regulations currently under review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs are projected to be economically significant with potential costs in excess of $100 million."