"White House Takes Aim at Federal Rule Book"

"The Obama administration on Thursday came through on its pledge to scour the federal rule book for regulations that need to be either dramatically changed or scrapped, as the White House seeks to stay in front of GOP and industry complaints that too many federal regulations are burdensome.

President Barack Obama earlier this year ordered the government wide review of federal rules, directing agencies to help “root out regulations that conflict, that are not worth the cost or that are just plain dumb.” On Thursday, the White House and more than a dozen federal agencies unveiled hundreds of rules and regulations to change.

Cass Sunstein, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said finding some lousy or outdated rules wasn’t a problem.

“The stupidest one probably is one that refers to Yugoslavia, because Yugoslavia doesn’t exist,” Sunstein told reporters Thursday, after speaking at the American Enterprise Institute. The regulation relates to old economic sanctions against Yugoslavia."

Robin Bravender and J. Lester Feder report for Politico May 27, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"White House Again Uses Worker Safety Regulations as a Whipping Boy" (The Pumphandle)

"White House Unveils Plans To Curb Regulations" (AP)

"White House Works To Eliminate Burdensome Government Regulations" (USA TODAY)