No End in Sight for Sunstein Nomination

Update (7/16): Chambliss Lifts Hold on Sunstein [1].

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) is not lifting his hold on the nomination of Cass Sunstein – President Obama’s pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Per the senator’s request, Sunstein met face to face with Chambliss yesterday to discuss the reasons for the hold. Energy and Environment Daily [2] (subscription) reports:

During their meeting yesterday, Chambliss said they discussed Sunstein's "statements that were pretty radical statements on animal rights and whatnot, his statements on hunting and thoughts about the Second Amendment and then in general, what his philosophy is relative to what he proposes to be doing down at OIRA."

Chambliss, the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, said he had no immediate plans to release his procedural hold blocking the confirmation. "We're going to evaluate the conversation ... and then we'll see where it goes," he said. 

I’ve blogged before [3] about Sunstein’s controversial views and about how other Republican Senators and some special interests have been placated following in-person conversations with him. Apparently, Chambliss is a tougher nut to crack.

To some extent, the controversy over Sunstein’s nomination is now mere pageantry. Sunstein has been working on regulatory issues for the White House for months. Although he is not officially in charge of OIRA, he is a senior advisor at the Office of Management and Budget (OIRA’s parent office), and is likely weighing in on regulatory issues.

I say “likely” because the public is not privy to Sunstein’s activities. Since he is not operating in an official capacity, and since his nomination is still pending, he can’t speak publicly on regulatory issues on behalf of the administration. Thusly, the hold on Sunstein’s nomination is actually a detriment to accountability – though I do not mean to imply that he, or OIRA, is engaging in any shenanigans.

Moreover, the regulatory agenda for the Obama administration is in limbo. In January, President Obama asked [4] officials in his administration to develop recommendations on a new executive order that will govern the regulatory process. The administration also accepted public comments [5] on ideas for reform. Although both those phases are complete, the process may have lost steam since Sunstein, likely the chief architect of the new E.O., has yet to be confirmed.

The administration has also yet to identify any major public health, environmental protection, or worker safety gaps it hopes to address through regulation, at least in a systematic way. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is obviously a priority, as are health care reform and financial regulation, but those issues have mostly been left to Congress, and they have been presented as discrete issues. The administration has yet to articulate an overarching philosophy on how regulations ought to impact society.

Crises ranging from food safety breakdowns to the mortgage meltdown have proved that the free market, for all its virtue, is not infallible. Regulation can protect citizens from risks – especially those risks from which they cannot protect themselves. The Obama administration needs to be a leader and develop and voice a broad strategy for making sure the public is protected.