Urgency grows for Obama’s regs agenda

Time is fast running out on President Obama’s regulatory agenda and proponents of stronger health and safety protections are pressing the administration to redouble efforts to cement a host of new rules before it is too late. With a unified Republican Congress soon to be to be sworn in, public interest groups expect the president’s last two years in office to be fraught with conflict as the administration tries to secure its legacy. “Given how slow the regulatory process is, two years is a very short time,” said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate for Public Citizen. “There is a lot of urgency for the administration and federal agencies to move fast to finalize these rules.” The GOP plans to take aim at pending regulations on everything from the Internet and food safety to the clean air provisions that represent the core of Obama’s plan to combat climate change...more