Federal Rulemaking Overview and the Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Significant Rules

Federal regulation, like taxing and spending, is one of the basic tools of government uses to implement public policy. Although not as frequently examined as congressional or presidential policy making, the process of developing and framing rules is viewed by some as central to the definition and implementation of public policy in the United States. Federal agencies issue thousands of regulations each year to achieve national goals. For the few hundred of these rules deemed to be significant, agencies are required to assess expected costs and benefits. For the subset of these rules estimated to have the greatest economic impact, agencies must also include an assessment of alternatives. This book addresses how often and to what extent significant, economically significant, and major rules include key elements for assessing or analyzing benefits and costs; and how and to what extent agencies assess the quality of the scientific, technical, and other types of data they use to consider benefits and costs. The purpose of this book is to provide Congress with an overview of the federal rulemaking process and a brief discussion of the major laws and executive orders that prescribe the procedures agencies are to apply when promulgating regulations.