Administrative Law and the Executive

Administrative Law and the Executive

 

How does "who the President is" affect administrative agencies? Executive branch agencies (such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Energy, and many others) fall under the direct control of the President. The President chooses agency heads, who in turn work with the career staff in their agencies to implement policies in line with the President's policy goals. The agencies, like the President, exercise executive power in the creation and promulgation of national policies. In effect, the President delegates power to agencies, and the agencies' connection to the President gives them some degree of democratic accountability. How does the Office of Internal and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) oversee these agencies for the Executive branch? Does OIRA serve both the President and the public? What agencies are not reviewable by OIRA and why?

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6 of 9: What Kind of Analysis Does OIRA Conduct? [No. 86]

Professor Sally Katzen explains that agencies put together their own cost-benefit and regulatory impact analysis. OIRA doesn’t help to compose the analysis itself, but rather checks the assumptions and calculations and offers policy guidance. OIR ... Professor Sally Katzen explains that agencies put together their own cost-benefit and regulatory impact analysis. OIRA doesn’t help to compose the analysis itself, but rather checks the assumptions and calculations and offers policy guidance. OIRA review helps the agency to better define the goals and costs of an activity, while also representing the priorities of the current President who is responsible for overseeing the agencies.

Professor Sally Katzen is the Co-Director of the Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic at New York University School of Law.

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

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