Politics Freezes Regulatory Boards

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/28/politics/politico/main3888502.shtml

This story was written by Ryan Grim. The system of federal regulation first launched in 1883 with the Interstate Commerce Commission has become a casualty of the Pennsylvania Avenue battle over nominations.

At the height of concern over product safety and lead-tainted toys, the Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn’t have enough members to meet. The nation is facing the prospect of a presidential contest with no referee, because the Federal Election Commission is too short-handed to call a quorum. With the economy in peril, the Council of Economic Advisers is plodding along with a lone member. The National Labor Relations Board, the body that adjudicates disputes between workers and bosses, has only two of its five commissioners still on the job.

An explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia took nearly a dozen lives in February, but the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is missing two of its five members - one of them the chairman.

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission’s two remaining members leave it one short of a quorum. Close to 200 nominees for federal appointments stand unconfirmed.

The federal government is running on fumes, and roadside signs suggest the next gas station won’t come until January 2009.

“It’s the worst last year of a two-term presidency since we created a two-term presidency,” said Paul Light, an expert on federal nominations at New York University. “It’s a real tribute to the problems of the Bush administration that eighth year is even worse than Clinton’s.”


FULL story at link.

[ananda]

1. sobering

Very very bad.

[stillcool]

2. I agree with Barbara Boxer...

Some Senate Democrats are willing to wait, too. “It’s better to have fewer people on the commissions if the people who are nominated want to destroy the mission of their particular job,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). “From my perspective, I’d rather have nobody."

The cure is worse than the disease.