Nov 28, 2012

Waiting For A New Commissioner?

     All new federal regulations must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the White House.On August 15, Social Security sent three proposed final regulations to OMB. These were new Listings for "Respiratory System Disorders", "Genitourinary Disorders" and "Congenital Disorders That Affect Multiple Body Systems." OMB is supposed to act on proposed rules within 90 days. That time period can be extended by OMB for an extra 30 days or indefinitely by the agency that sent over the proposal. These proposals have now been pending over 90 days. That is unusual. OMB's website indicates that review has been "extended." It doesn't say whether OMB extended the review or whether Social Security extended it. I don't want to read too much into this. I don't recall any of these being controversial.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Virtually all Federal Rulemaking, even non-controversial stuff ground to a halt about a month or two before the election (remember the controversy over the alleged total relaxation of the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) issue that the Republicans latched onto???)
Regulatory activity appears to just be starting up again.

Anonymous said...

"Virtually all Federal Rulemaking, even non-controversial stuff ground to a halt about a month or two before the election "

SSA did not issue one AM, EM, or OB Daily Update in Policy Net from October 19th until November 8th.

Anonymous said...

Could have been related to Hurricane Sandy?!