[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 29, 1992]
[Pages 663-665]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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Remarks on Regulatory Reform

April 29, 1992
    Well, a warm welcome to the White House for all of you. And first, I 
want to salute the three generals in the war for regulatory reform: our 
Vice President, Dan Quayle, Boyden Gray, and Dr. Michael Boskin. We also 
have here some frontline troops actively engaged in this process, 
members of the administration and Cabinet: Andy Card and Barbara 
Franklin and Jim Watkins and Lynn Martin and Dick Darman, Pat Saiki, 
Bill Reilly, and many others out here that are working for these kinds 
of changes. I also appreciate your efforts for fundamental reform of 
Government regulation. That's what brings us here today.
    Regulation imposes what we see as a hidden tax on all Americans. 
This reform is one of the top priorities that I stressed in my State of 
the Union Message, and it's a vital element of our national reform 
agenda.
    Two hundred years ago our Founding Fathers championed a whole new 
way of thinking about man's relationship to government by unleashing 
forces of social and economic freedom. They made the United States a 
haven for the poor and the oppressed, indeed, a land of opportunity. Our 
system did not promise material well-being, but it guaranteed personal 
freedom. In just one century's time, millions of poor people came here 
from every corner of the Old World. And because America empowered them 
to use their God-given talents to the fullest, people who came to our 
shores with nothing but faith and imagination made us the strongest and 
freest Nation on Earth.
    Since the thirties, when a great economic shock hit the world, 
Government has often turned to projects of social engineering. And too 
often, in my opinion, Government embraced the notion that human actions, 
human choices could be organized to good effect only through 
bureaucratic blueprints. This posed a challenge to our precious heritage 
of limited government and the rule of law. It veered us away from the 
tradition of the accountability of citizen legislators. When Congress 
shirks the responsibility for leadership, it tends to embrace many 
premises of the command economy. For example, when Congress passes laws 
mandating Americans to dance to the tune of arbitrary social and 
economic goals, it leaves the details of this choreography to the 
bureaucracy. This is not right. The bureaucracy is not accountable in 
the same way a legislature should be or a President should be.
    Over the years, many Americans have felt the growing burden of 
regulation's tax in disguise. And we learned some hard lessons. We 
learned that lonely keepers of the flame of economic reform, men like 
the late Friedrich von Hayek, were right. The era of bureaucracy and 
regulation produced one example after another validating von Hayek's 
observation: Rule by bureaucracy undermines the true rule of law and 
runs headlong into the iron law of unintended consequences.
    Let me tell you what this means in the real world. Take a common 
concern about safety. Inflexible safety rules can undermine safety in 
unforeseen ways: If Government mandates make ladders more and more 
costly to consumers, just for example, more people will turn to cheaper 
substitutes. They'll climb on chairs or step stools which are far less 
safe. Of course, regulators creating such a rule would not intend to 
make people less safe, but that's just how it works in practice. That's 
what we mean by unintended consequences.
    Consider another example, this time with environmental rules. 
Command-and-control environmental rules actually can harm the 
environment. Regulations under the old Clean Air Act, for example, 
required new power plants to install scrubbers to clean up air 
pollution. Not only did this increase the cost of electricity, but it 
also generated scrubber sludge to be disposed of in landfills. Now we 
have a much better, market-based program which provides companies more 
options in how they reduce pollution, for example through our innovative 
emissions trading program or through increased

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use of cleaner burning natural gas.
    I could go on all day with examples of inflexible rules that impose 
hidden taxes and costs on society. I could cite any number of abstract 
rules in collision with how things actually work: How highway fatalities 
can increase and American auto workers can lose jobs when Congress tries 
to legislate the fuel efficiency of cars; how a regulation system, plump 
with noble intentions, can keep life-saving drugs and medical devices 
from patients who need them. And let me add a personally gratifying 
note. The speed-up of approval for new ``breakthrough'' drugs for AIDS 
and for cancer and other life-threatening diseases is the culmination of 
the work that I was active in, that I helped begin almost 10 years ago.
    Reforming regulation is a huge and time-consuming task. Presiding 
over the Task Force on Regulation during the eighties was, for example, 
one of the most important assignments that President Reagan gave me when 
I was Vice President. I've given a similar assignment to Vice President 
Dan Quayle and my Council on Competitiveness, and I am very grateful for 
his leadership and for the work of the Council.
    Today regulation is facing a heightened public concern and a growing 
public impatience. Many times this manifests itself in the phrase, ``Get 
the Government off our backs.'' More and more people are sending 
Washington an unmistakable message: Overregulation costs jobs. And 
thanks to this rising sentiment, we are able to accelerate needed 
reforms.
    In my State of the Union Address, I lit a fire under our regulatory 
reformers, gave them 90 days to produce dramatic results. Today marks 
the 91st day, and let me report our reformers have come through with 
flying colors.
    From biotechnology to banking to energy, we've made achievements 
that will lower costs and increase choices for American consumers. We've 
carried out reforms that will create and preserve good jobs for 
Americans and help us stay competitive in the world. We estimate that 
the reforms we've set in motion just since January 28th will save 
consumers about $15 billion to $20 billion a year. That's a savings of 
$225 to $300 per year for the average American family. And this is just 
a down payment on savings to come.
    Every Agency that I asked to participate has responded with action. 
Some Agencies already have accomplished important reforms, and all 
Agencies have completed a reform agenda which they will carry out in the 
months ahead.
    To help us move forward with our reform agenda, today I am ordering 
a 120-day extension of the moratorium on new regulations. I am directing 
the Competitiveness Council to take the lead in implementing these 
reforms. Our objective must be to stop new rules that hurt growth while 
speeding up new rules to help our economy. During the next 120 days I 
expect many more gains for freedom and common sense.
    I'll ask the United States Congress to do its part. I'll be working 
with regulatory reformers in every Federal Agency to propose new 
legislation where needed to eliminate unreasonable regulatory burdens 
that are now mandated by statute. And Congress also should pass 
legislation that has been pending for 3 years to reauthorize the 
Paperwork Reduction Act. And further, I'm putting Congress on notice: I 
will veto any bill that attempts to put excessive new burdens of 
regulation on the backs of our families, our consumers, our workers, and 
our businesses. There will be no, and I repeat, no return to business-
as-usual.
    Let me be very clear about our aims: We cannot and will not abolish 
all regulation. I have responsibilities as Chief Executive to enforce 
sound regulations for the health and safety of the American people, and 
I'll keep that trust. The best way to keep that trust is through a 
fundamental reform of our system of regulation. This is more than a 3-
month or even a 3-year effort. This is more than an exercise in 
adjusting or fine-tuning the system. The economy is beginning to recover 
now. To ensure that recovery continues and is strengthened, to ensure 
that we can create new jobs, we must continue our course of regulatory 
reform.
    Our campaign for regulatory reform meshes with our efforts for 
Government reform, like our proposal to limit the terms

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of Congressmen and make them more accountable. It fits also with our 
crusade for reform of the civil justice system, against the tyranny of 
these nuisance lawsuits that mock our time-honored traditions of 
justice. It goes hand in hand with our efforts to reform American 
education by allowing parents, not governments, to choose their 
children's schools. In short, there's a common purpose linking all of 
our efforts to renew the spirit and practice of limited government.
    So let's take heart, and let's get to work. We can see the future, 
and it is a freer future. There is no doubt in my mind: The day is 
coming when we will put the final wrecking ball to the discredited 
system of the social engineers. We will restore this country. We will 
build it back, sturdy in the radical faith in freedom that is the legacy 
of our Founding Fathers.
    Now I'm going to have the honor and privilege of signing the 
memorandum extending the regulatory moratorium. Thank you all very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. in the Rose 
                        Garden at the White House.