Regulation

Week ahead: Obama’s reg czar heads to Congress

by Tim Devaney and Lydia Wheeler 02/22/16 06:00 AM ET

President Obama’s regulatory czar is set to testify Tuesday before Congress.

Shaun Donovan, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is facing questions about his agency’s 2017 budget but is also likely be grilled on the administration’s regulatory agenda when he heads before a House Appropriations subcommittee. http://1.usa.gov/1Ww9JJO

The OMB controls the federal government’s regulatory spigot, deciding which rules make it through the pipeline and which ones get quashed before they are ever presented to the public.

{mosads}Donovan’s office is expected to be busy reviewing rules in the final year of the Obama administration as federal agencies race to finish a number of last-minute regulations. Republicans want to make sure the OMB does not rush the reviews. http://bit.ly/1osJ4Ta

Donovan isn’t the only agency head going to Capitol Hill next week to defend the president’s budget requests. Here are a few others to keep your eye on:

–Attorney General Loretta Lynch is scheduled to testify Wednesday about the Department of Justice’s budget before the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the agency. http://1.usa.gov/1Ww82fo

–Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell is on tap to testify Thursday about the Department of Health and Human Services’s budget before the House Appropriations subcommittee on health. http://1.usa.gov/1SWu8Kd

–Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff is scheduled to testify Thursday before a House Appropriations subcommittee.

The Senate is also likely to confirm Robert Califf as the new FDA commissioner in the coming week. http://1.usa.gov/1XBYAIy. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is teeing up a procedural vote on Tuesday despite opposition to Califf from some Democrats.

–Secretary Anthony Foxx is scheduled to testify Wednesday about the Department of Transportation’s budget before the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation. http://1.usa.gov/1mMfEhA

–Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot Kaye and Commissioner Ann Marie Buerkle are set to testify Thursday before a House Appropriations subcommittee. http://1.usa.gov/1XBZ9lx

Also on Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday is expected to hold a hearing on unaccompanied child migrants and the border surge.

On Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to hold a hearing on the renewable fuel standard.

That same day, a House Judiciary subpanel is scheduled to hold a hearing on the impact of regulations on “jobs, wages and startups.”

And on Thursday, a House Transportation subcommittee plans to look at reauthorizing the Transportation Department’s pipeline safety program.