Analytical Attacks

Analytical Attacks: News Analysis Correspondence Gov Docs

Perhaps his most damaging and enduring legacy will be Graham's manipulation of analytical policies to tilt the playing field against strong new protections.

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News

White House Gains Influence in Toxic Chemical Assessments 04/15/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced changes to its process for assessing the human health effects of common chemical substances. The revised process will allow the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to play a larger role in the evaluation of the substances. Read More

Risk Bulletin Advances Graham Anti-Reg Agenda 01/24/2006
From cost-benefit guidelines to the new draft policy on risk assessments, White House regulatory czar John Graham has steadily proceeded with a long-range plan laying the groundwork for dramatic limits on public safeguards. Read More

White House Proposes Guidelines to Control Agency Risk Assessments 01/11/2006
When it rains, it pours: the same day the White House closed the comment period on its proposed bulletin to govern agency guidance practices, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a proposed bulletin to govern agency risk assessments. Read More

OMB Report on Regulation Misguided, Misleading 06/27/2005
An annual draft report from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) misleads the public on regulatory safeguards and makes OMB appear poised to impose misguided anti-regulatory policies, OMB Watch and other public interest groups told the White House last week. Read More

Corporate-Conservative Alliance Plots Attack on Safeguards 04/19/2005
From many small and supposedly disconnected proposals, a larger pattern is emerging: corporate special interests and conservative lawmakers are conspiring to mount a comprehensive assault on regulatory protections, on a scale equivalent to the broad-based attacks of the Contract With America. Read More

OMB Finalizes Changes to Regulatory Decision-Making 09/22/2003
OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) issued final guidance today that instructs federal agencies on specific analytical methods for regulatory decisions. Read More

Graham Advises Agencies on Valuing Lives of Seniors 06/16/2003
In a Washington Post op-ed on June 1, Robert Hahn and Scott Wallsten of the American Enterprise Institute pose a fantastic scenario: There are two simultaneous fires, one at a nursing home and one at a nursery. The problem is that the fire chief has only one pump, and must choose whether to save 11 seniors or 10 toddlers. Obviously, the chief should choose the toddlers, they write. Read More

Administration Devalues the Elderly 03/19/2003

The elderly frequently suffer the consequences of a lifetime's exposure to industrial contaminants, including heart or lung failure from smog and soot, and cancer from toxic chemicals. Tens of thousands die prematurely every year as a result.

Over the years, we have made significant strides in addressing these problems, and improving the quality of life for our seniors, through strong regulatory protections. Yet the Bush administration has recently taken steps that could halt this progress.
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White House Subverting Health, Safety & Environmental Protection 09/04/2002

The Bush administration has turned back the clock with John Graham in place as head of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which as an arm of the White House has the authority to review and possibly reject or amend new agency regulations. Graham, whose nomination was overwhelmingly opposed by the environmental community, labor unions, and public health advocates, has moved swiftly to create new barriers to health, safety, and environmental protections, and to assert centralized control over regulatory policy at OIRA. Read More

Graham Pushes Regulatory Priorities in President's Budget 03/04/2002

As administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) -- which has authority to review and possibly reject or amend agency regulatory proposals -- John Graham is pressing agencies to adopt particular analytical methods to assess regulatory costs and benefits that would rig the result and undoubtedly lead to less protective health, safety, and environmental standards. Read More