We recently witnessed a small but welcome step toward bipartisanship — introduction of two bills in the Senate. We have served as the chief regulatory official for Republican and Democratic administrations, and we don’t agree on everything. However, we think the bills Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and James Lankford (R-OK) have introduced could not only offer targeted solutions to two problematic aspects of the regulatory process, but also contribute to some salutary goals President Biden has set.
The bills would 1) engage the public earlier in the process of developing major regulations; and 2) encourage the more systematic evaluation of regulations’ actual effects. These are both worthwhile on their own and consistent with objectives of both Democratic and Republican Presidents. They also could support President Biden’s interest in improving regulators’ understanding of how their policies affect different groups of citizens, especially those in disadvantaged or marginalized communities — considering not only total benefits and costs, but who receives the benefits and who pays the costs.
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