In addition to its many other responsibilities, OIRA currently reviews the substance of between 500 and 700 significant proposed and final rules each year before agencies publish them in the Federal Register , and can clear the rules with or without change, return them to the agencies for reconsideration, or encourage the agencies to withdraw the rules. The office was created by Congress and has a number of specific statutory responsibilities, but it also helps ensure that agencies' rules reflect the President's policies and priorities. Much of that discussion is drawn from a September 2003 report on OIRA by the General Accounting Office (GAO, now the Government Accountability Office). This pre-publication review process made OIRA's regulatory reviews under Executive Order 12291 qualitatively different than its predecessors. In contrast to the broad scope of review under Executive Order 12291, the new order limited OIRA reviews to actions identified by the rulemaking agency or OIRA as "significant" regulatory actions, which are defined in section 2(f) of the order as the following:
"Any regulatory action that is likely to result in a rule that may (1) have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or communities; (2) create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency; (3) materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in the Executive order." OIRA's Formal Review Process

As Figure 2 shows, OIRA reviews agencies' draft rules at both the proposed and final stages of rulemaking. The withdrawn rules reflect actions taken at the start of the George W. Bush Administration pursuant to a memorandum issued by Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card, which generally directed Cabinet departments and independent agencies to (1) not send proposed or final rules to the Office of the Federal Register, (2) withdraw from the Office rules that had not yet been published in the Federal Register , and (3) postpone for 60 days the effective date of rules that had been published but had not yet taken effect. For those economically significant rules, OIRA desk officers are to review the economic analyses using the office's guidance on how to prepare regulatory analyses under the executive order. If OIRA suggested a change to a rule before it was formally submitted to OIRA (e.g., during informal review), GAO's analysis would not reflect those changes. GAO's April 2009 Report

In April 2009, GAO again reported that OIRA's reviews often resulted in changes to draft rules. Changes in OIRA's Policies and Practices During the George W. Bush Administration

The formal process by which OIRA reviews agencies' draft rules has changed little since Executive Order 12866 was issued in 1993. Executive Order 12866 attempted to address some of those concerns, requiring (among other things) that agencies disclose after the publication of a rule the changes made to the rule during OIRA's review and the changes made at the suggestion or recommendation of OIRA. Executive Order 13563

On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order 13563 on "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review." The OMB director has delegated these responsibilities to OIRA. Proposals for changes to OIRA's authority and responsibilities have focused on such issues as (1) providing a statutory underpinning for regulatory reviews, (2) increasing or decreasing the office's funding and staffing, (3) including independent agencies' rules under the office's regulatory review function, and (4) improving the transparency of OIRA's regulatory review processes. Among other things, the office would be required to "provide to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, information that will assist the committee in the discharge of all matters within its jurisdiction, including information with respect to its jurisdiction over authorization and oversight of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget."
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Executive Order 12291, issued by President Reagan in 1981, gave OIRA the responsibility to review the substance of agencies' regulatory actions before publication in the Federal Register. The office's regulatory review role was initially highly controversial, and it has been criticized at different times as being both too active and too passive regarding agencies' rules. Although OIRA has a number of specific statutory responsibilities (e.g., paperwork review and regulatory accounting), as a component of OMB it is part of the Executive Office of the President, and helps ensure that covered agencies' rules reflect the President's policies and priorities.
OIRA's current regulatory review responsibilities are detailed in Executive Order 12866, which was issued by President Clinton in 1993. The office reviews significant draft rules from agencies (other than independent regulatory agencies) at both the proposed and final rulemaking stages, and also informally reviews certain rules before they are formally submitted. For rules that are "economically significant" (most commonly defined as those having a $100 million impact on the economy), OIRA also reviews the economic analyses. Since 1994, OIRA has reviewed between 500 and 700 significant proposed and final rules each year, and can clear the rules with or without changes, return the rules to the agencies for reconsideration, or encourage the agencies to withdraw them. The executive order also requires OIRA or the rulemaking agencies to disclose certain elements of the review process to the public, including the changes made at OIRA's recommendation. A September 2003 report by the General Accounting Office indicated that OIRA had a significant effect on more than a third of the 85 rules in the study, but OIRA's most common effect was to suggest changes to explanatory language in the preambles to the rules. At the start of the George W. Bush Administration, OIRA made a number of changes to its review process, including increased use of return letters, added emphasis on economic analysis to support the rules, and improvements in the transparency of the office's review process. Overall, in contrast to the "counselor" role it played during the Clinton Administration, OIRA appeared to have returned to the "gatekeeper" role that it had during its first 12 years of existence. An April 2009 report by GAO again noted changes made to rules at OIRA's suggestion.
Possible legislative issues involving OIRA include codification of the office's review function and principles, increasing or decreasing the office's funding and staffing, adding review of rules from independent regulatory agencies, and improvements in the transparency of OIRA's review process. In January 2009, President Obama requested recommendations from the Director of OMB for possible changes to Executive Order 12866. In January 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order 13563, which reaffirmed many of the principles in Executive Order 12866, but did not change OIRA's responsibilities.
This report will be updated if there are changes in OIRA's regulatory review responsibilities. For information, see CRS Report RL33862, Changes to the OMB Regulatory Review Process by Executive Order 13422, by [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report RL32240, The Federal Rulemaking Process: An Overview, by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report RL32356, Federal Regulatory Reform: An Overview, by [author name scrubbed].