More Than One Way To Kill Regulation

by Stuart Shapiro

When the Republicans took control of the House last year, they pledged to do away with or prevent regulations promulgated by the Obama Administration, particularly those to implement the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.  They have largely failed (and will continue to fail) in overturning particular regulations because it is very hard to do so legislatively when the Senate and the president have to agree.  However, they have found another way:

On a recent trip to New York to tour a trading floor, a group of employees from the commodities watchdog rode Mega Bus both ways, arriving late to their meeting despite a 5:30 a.m. departure. The bus, which cost $30 a person round trip, saved the agency roughly $1,000 over Amtrak.

“We spent hundreds of billions of dollars on a hideous bailout, and now we’re not going to fund reforms to prevent another one,” said Bart Chilton, a commissioner with the agency. . .

Their budgets may soon be even tighter, with Republicans looking to cut the regulators’ spending beginning Oct. 1, the start of the government’s fiscal year.

This is yet another example of being penny wise and pound foolish.  Make no mistake: if there is another financial crisis, the government will be asked to spend billions on bailouts again.  And we’d be much happier spending the thousands or even millions now then we will spending the billions later.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.