Obama Tries to Eliminate Red Tape

Earlier this year President Barack Obama directed agencies and departments to produce plans to eliminate red tape and to streamline current requirements. Obama charged all of his agencies to present ideas, and that culminated last week when each agency released final plans to cut the red tape.

Obama’s regulation czar Cass Sunstein said the look-back plans “emphasize it isn’t a one-shot endeavor” but rather a periodic review of existing rules. He said the continuing exercise also will be “responsive to learning about what rules are doing to or for people.”

Sunstein touted the nearly $4 billion that could be saved in the next 5 years and a total of $10 billion in 10 years.

Obama is trying hard to paint the picture that he’s serious about reducing regulatory burdens.

However, since Obama first issued the executive order in January, the administration has repealed only one rule, a rule that effectively treated spilled milk like an oil spill.

On the other end of the spectrum, the administration has proposed more than 340 regulations at a cost of $65 billion to job creators, the Washington Times reports. And this accounts for only the regulations that had an economic analysis conducted.

Sen. John Barrasso, (R., Wy.), said, "Cutting $10 billion in regulatory costs over five years is a drop in the bucket. In July alone, the administration proposed over $9.5 billion in new regulatory costs."  

From the few ideas laid out in USDA’s plan, some are noteworthy.

Identified as the Acreage-Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI), USDA is looking to consolidate acreage reporting dates, link crop codes, and share producer information across agencies producers will be able to provide acreage data at their first point of contact with USDA whether that be with Farm Service Agency, National Resources Conservation Services, or their private sector crop insurance agent.

Not far enough

Can Obama carry through on actually reducing regulations that seem to be coming at farmers from every direction? After Obama was quick to tell a farmer at a recent town hall meeting in Illinois that he shouldn’t believe everything he hears about increased regulations, Sen. Pat Roberts, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member from Kansas, sent a letter to the president outlining several regulations proposed or in development that would affect farmers and ranchers.

He included the GIPSA rule, pesticide permits, ozone rule, dust standards, water quality standards, climate change greenhouse gas regulations, Clean Water Act strategy expanding water bodies under regulation, spray drift and unneeded atrazine reviews.

None of these were included in the proposed changes set forth by USDA, which isn’t surprising. The only hope on many of these regulations is if Congress continues to stand firm in the original intent of the legislation it wrote and defend rural America. If not, farmers and consumers will both pay.

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