FACT CHECK: Whitaker says regulations stifling growth

Introduction

'We have approaching 1,000 pending regulations that, by their own estimates, are going to cost $100 million apiece.'

Source of claim

Matt Whitaker, Ankeny lawyer running for U.S. Senate, during an April 24 debate broadcast on Iowa Public Television.

Analysis

Some Republicans, including Matt Whitaker, blame regulations for stifling economic growth. The former federal prosecutor vying for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate has made several statements this spring about the rate of federal regulation and the economic cost of those proposed rules.

Whitaker's spokesman, Jason Klindt, pointed us to several articles by conservative news outlets. An April 28 piece at OpenMarket.org cites statistics from the Federal Register, the official journal of the federal government.

The Federal Register publishes daily and annual statistics on the number of regulations proposed, including regulations designated as 'significant.' But the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) decides whether proposed rules are significant, said Miriam Vincent, staff attorney with the Office of the Federal Register.

A portion of these significant regulations are 'economically significant,' which means they are likely to have an annual economic cost of $100 million or more. Agencies that propose these rules must prepare a detailed assessment of likely benefits and costs and an analysis of reasonable alternatives.

It was these $100-million-plus regulations Whitaker was talking about in his April 24 statement.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is part of the OMB, reports eight economically significant final rules are pending approval from the OMB and six that have already been approved between Jan. 1 and April 30.

The office's searchable database shows 54 economically significant final rules in 2013, with one still pending. Forty-eight of these $100-million-plus regulations were approved in 2012, 64 in 2011 and 71 in 2010, according to OMB.

That's a lot of expensive regulations, but it's not 1,000, as Whitaker claims. We asked Klindt what time period Whitaker was using for his statement.

'It's over the next decade,' Klindt said. 'They are averaging about 100 new rules per year that cost $100 million or more.'

In regard to the broader context of 'economically significant' regulations, while each of these rules is expected to be costly, many of them also are expected to bring about financial benefits or savings.

A 2012 OMB report studied the total annualized benefits and costs of 115 major federal rules from 2002 to 2012 and found the costs were $69.8 billion. But the benefits of these regulations, according to the OMB, were $750.2 billion.

Conclusion

Whitaker doesn't note in his claim that he's projecting into the future. By using the phrase 'pending,' he indicates these are regulations that have been proposed and are waiting for a decision now.

That can't be the case for regulations that will be made five or 10 years from now.

Klindt said the projection is based on the administration approving 100 regulations a year that cost at least $100 million. The OMB's numbers show an annual average for the last four years of 60 regulations per year.

Whitaker's statement is misleading and inaccurate. We give his claim a false.

Sources

Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/

Definition of economically-significant regulations: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/Utilities/faq.jsp

OMG regulation search: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoAdvancedSearchMain

OMB report on 2002-2012 regulations: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/inforeg/2013_cb/draft_2013_cost_benefit_report.pdf