Administration

Vacancies in the powerful Office of Management and Budget start at the executive level and go even deeper.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote May 9 on whether to advance the nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the panel announced Thursday.

McCarthy, who would replace former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, heads the agency’s Office of Air and Radiation.

“Gina McCarthy is a strong, bipartisan candidate and is the right person for the job at this critical time. The EPW Committee’s business meeting is an important step forward in the confirmation process,” Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

A Washington-area think tank with ties to the Koch brothers and a record of criticizing burdensome government rules said Tuesday that listing President Obama’s proposed regulatory chief as a resident expert was a mistake.

Howard Shelanski, tapped to serve as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has no affiliation with the Mercatus Center, apart from a 2011 speech he gave at an event hosted by the organization, according to center spokeswoman Leigh Harrington.

Federal regulators are coming under increasing pressure to reject a change to milk labels that is being sought by the dairy industry.

The public advocacy group SumOfUs.Org has taken out large ads to appear on buses in the Washington, D.C., region protesting a request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take “low-calorie” labels off the front of flavored milk sweetened with artificial sugars.

"Hey, FDA, if the dairy industry gets its way, milk marketed to our kids will become more of an artificially-sweetened junk food. We don't want that!" the signs read.

Howard Shelanski is an economist and lawyer whose expertise lies in antitrust issues.

Howard Shelanski, the president’s nominee for administrator of the influential Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is an economist and lawyer with a background in antitrust issues, RegWatch reports. Obama had been under pressure to fill the position, which has been vacant since Cass Sunstein departed in August.

Regulators warned banks on direct-deposit loans, proposing new standards to help consumers avoid “debt traps,” according to NPR. Consumer groups praised the proposed guidelines, RegWatch reports.

Few firms are taking advantage of newly clarified rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowing them to use social media to disclose financial information, The New York Times reports.

Rep. Maxine Waters (R-Calif.) is calling on regulators to weigh in on the merit of legislation that would modify the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, according to The Hill's On The Money blog.

Obama nominated Howard Shelanski for administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a gatekeeper agency for federal regulations.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Thursday that it would close 16 of its smaller field offices to save money. The downsizing will affect 120 of its 9,300 workers, the department said.

It cites a 2010 presidential memo directing federal agencies to eliminate excess properties and adopt other money-saving efforts, such as consolidating offices and leasing less expensive real estate.

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The Obama administration released a new drug control strategy on Wednesday that seeks a middle ground in the war on drugs.
   
The strategy "rejects the opposing extremes of legalization or a law enforcement-only," according to a 104-page document that spells out the administration’s plans.

"Rather, the strategy pursues a 21st century approach to drug policy that balances public health programs, effective law enforcement, and international partnerships. This 'third way' is rooted in the knowledge that drug addiction is a disease of the brain — one that can be treated, recovered from, and, most importantly, prevented."

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions Tuesday against a pair of Lebanese exchange houses accused of laundering millions of dollars in drug money on behalf of Hezbollah.

The United States considers the Lebanese group a terrorist organization.

The sanctions designate Kassem Rmeiti & Co. for Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. as “foreign financial institutions of primary money laundering,” and seek to eject them from the U.S. financial system.