Tag: independent regulatory agencies

Executive Order deletes “independent” from “independent regulatory agencies”

On Tuesday, the President signed a new Executive Order claiming that “independent” federal regulatory agencies, such as the SEC, shouldn’t really be so independent after all. Rather, the Order contends, they all should be operating under the President’s authority and supervision.  According to the Administration’s fact sheet, these independent agencies need to be “reined in”:  These “so-called independent agencies…have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight.”  They issue rules and regulations, the fact sheet contends, “that cost billions of dollars and implicate some of the most controversial policy matters, and they do so without the review of the democratically elected President. They also spend American tax dollars and set priorities without consulting the President, while setting their own performance standards. Now they will no longer impose rules on the American people without oversight or accountability.”