It should be noted that those working on DOGE might benefit from a knowledge of the following observations which lead to the establishment of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the White House Office of Management and Budget:
- The incoming Administration is proposing a wide range of changes dealing with the operation of federal agencies, a number of which have sparked inflammatory debates. In the long run the issue addressed by DOGE is one of the most critical for the US survival as an economic entity as was the case with the establishment of centralized regulatory review.
- The gargantuan deficits of past years will reap their toll in around twenty years at most and if the output of DOGE is to be implemented, DOGE will have to have a permanent base in the bureaucracy. To this end thought should be given to melding it into OMB, an organization with established clout and reputation.
- The Editor has worked for five Administrations and worked with six others during the past sixty years and he has heard of countless attempts to address burgeoning budget deficits–hopefully DOGE will have a lasting impact because other attempts had a fleeting impact.
Notwithstanding the American tendency to ignore history, lessons learned from the establishment of a process which “regulates the regulators” could have some relevance to a new program to enhance the powers of the president over the appropriations process.
To this end the Editor has been involved in the formulation and initiation of centralized regulatory review over the course of five presidential administrations, from its inception (Johnson Administration) to its development (Nixon and Ford Administrations) to its codification (Carter Administration) and finally to its government-wide implementation (Reagan Administration). Those readers who wish to review in greater detail the issues addressed in the creation of OIRA might benefit from (1) placing the term “OIRA Creation” into the CRE Search Engine (2) reviewing the material in this extensive list of OIRA Reference Libraries and (3) reviewing nearly five hundred journal articles, hand picked by CRE, which were published and influential during the formative years of OIRA.
One bottom line from the above experience is that visionary change occurs over a substantial period of time and only if there is one or more identifiable cohorts who are willing to put their jobs on the line.
Center For Regulatory Effectiveness
