House passes regulatory reform bill

The House Monday approved a regulatory reform bill on a largely party-line vote, 254-157, after rejecting an amendment favored by health, labor and environmental groups.

Republicans claimed victory after the vote, and it was especially sweet for the conservative Republican class of 1994, who came to Congress to push for smaller government and lower taxes.

With last week's approval of a massive tax cut bill, this vote gives them a double-barreled victory.

But Democrats, too, can claim victory. The measure fell 16 votes short of a veto-proof margin and President Clinton has signaled that he will veto the bill.

The Regulatory Right-To-Know Act, sponsored by Commerce Chairman Bliley and Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., would require the Office of Management and Budget to calculate the annual costs and benefits of all federal regulations.

It also would require an analysis of the impacts of paperwork requirements on federal and state governments.

Republicans believe the bill is needed to hold the government accountable.

If the government must disclose how much it collects in taxes, the bill's supporters maintain, it should reveal the indirect costs of its regulations, which McIntosh estimates are $700 billion each year.

But many Democrats fear the bill could provide Republicans with ammunition to roll back regulations that protect health, labor and the environment.

In the debate before the vote, Republicans reminded Democrats that the bill requires an accounting of the benefits of regulations as well.

But Democrats said the accounting would be skewed because it is much easier to calculate the cost of a regulation than to assess a dollar figure for worker safety or a clean atmosphere.

The amendment that was defeated would have scaled back the scope of the bill by blocking OMB from spending more than $1 million to complete the study.

Offered by Democratic Reps. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Henry Waxman of California, and Joseph Hoeffel of Pennsylvania, the amendment also would have required OMB to calculate the total amount of 'corporate welfare' given out by the federal government each year.

The Senate version of the Regulatory Right-To-Know Act currently awaits a panel vote in the Governmental Affairs Committee.