    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [March 16, 1995]
    [Pages 358-362]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Regulatory Reform in Arlington, Virginia
    March 16, 1995

        The President. Thank you, Stu, and, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
    Let me first of all say how delighted I am to be in this wonderful
    place. Among other things, they do their printing here with soy ink, and
    that's really why we're here, because I come from Arkansas, and my--
    [laughter]--my farmer friends grow a lot of soybeans, and we're always
    looking for new markets. And we're just trying to support responsible
    people who are using great ink.
        This is a wonderful story today, and I thank all of these people for
    hosting us, Stu and all of his partners behind us, to make a point that,
    to me, is very, very important. You heard the Vice President say that
    last month I called together the heads of the Federal regulatory
    agencies and told them to begin a root-and-branch examination of how we
    regulate the American people in all the various ways that we do.
        I wanted to make this the next big part of the reinventing
    Government process that the Vice President has overseen so well for the
    last 2 years. And today, we want to announce the fruits of that process.
    But it's important to remember what the purpose is. Most Americans are
    honest people. The free enterprise system

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    brings us great benefits. But we know we have certain things in common
    that we have to pursue through the Government that we all are
    responsible for.
        The question is: How can we do it best? Today, we're announcing
    basically two sets of changes: First of all, some Government-wide
    regulatory reforms that will cut back on paperwork and trust honest
    business people as partners, not adversaries and, second, significant
    reforms in the way we protect the environment and the way we assure safe
    and high quality drugs and medical devices.
        The philosophy that guided these changes is pretty simple: Protect
    people, not bureaucracy; promote results, not rules; get action, not
    rhetoric. Wherever possible, try to embrace common sense; it will
    confound your enemies and elate your friends. [Laughter]
        Since I became President, I have worked hard on this. You know, I
    spent 12 years as a Governor of a State where I got to deal with the
    regulatory apparatus of the Federal Government as it related to both
    State Government and to every friend I had in every walk of life in my
    State. And I found that in the environmental area, for example, we often
    had both the environmentalists and the people who were in business both
    frustrated by some things that were going on. And I could give you lots
    of other examples, and all of you can, as well, from your own personal
    experience.
        Our goal is to get rid of yesterday's Government so that we're
    capable of meeting the problems of today and the challenges of tomorrow.
    We want a Government that offers opportunity, demands responsibility,
    and shrinks bureaucracy, one that embodies the New Covenant I've been
    talking about, more opportunity and more responsibility with a less
    bureaucratic Government. I think Government can be as innovative as the
    best of our private sector businesses. I think Government can discard
    volume after volume of rules and, instead, set clear goals and challenge
    people to come up with their own ways to meet them. That kind of
    Government will be very different from the old one-size-fits-all
    bureaucracy. But it also would be different from the new proposals for
    one-size-fits-all deregulation and cutbacks.
        I want to see a different approach. I want a Government that is
    limited but effective, that is lean but not mean, that does what it
    should do better and simply stops doing things that it shouldn't be
    doing in the first place, that protects consumers and workers, the
    environment, without burdening business, choking innovation, or wasting
    the money of the American taxpayers.
        We do need to reduce paperwork and unnecessary regulation. I don't
    think we want to freeze efforts to protect our children from unsafe toys
    or unsafe food. We do need to carefully analyze the risks, the costs,
    the benefits of everything we do, but I don't think it's a better
    approach to pile on dozens of new procedural requirements. That will
    only run up legal bills and weaken the public trust. Paralysis by
    process is not common sense.
        So as I said before, reform, yes, and let's do it with a bipartisan
    flair, but let's don't roll back our commitment to the things that make
    life worth living here. We all want water we can drink and air we can
    breathe, food we can eat, and a place we can work in and feel safe and
    secure. But we know that the way we have sought these goals through
    Government often, often has frustrated the very goals we seek. The way
    our regulatory system has grown into a dense jungle of rules and
    regulations, precise lists of ``do this'' and ``don't do that'' can trip
    up even the most well-intentioned business person.
        Can you imagine a fellow like this, running a shop like this on the
    cutting edge of the environment, is afraid to call the Federal
    Government for advice? There is no better example of what has been
    wrong. Here's a guy who's tried to do right, wants to do more right, and
    is afraid that if he does it, he'll be punished for doing it. It really
    is true that often in the Government no good deed goes unpunished.
    [Laughter] So it's time to stop doing things that drive people up the
    wall.
        A few weeks ago, my good friend the Governor of Florida, who is also
    on this journey with us and has talked to me for more than--oh, I don't
    know--10 years we've been working on these issues, long before I ever
    thought of running for President, gave me this remarkable book that is
    now sweeping the country, ``The Death of Common Sense.'' It makes an
    interesting point, the book does. It says that in our entirely
    understandable and necessary desire to protect the public, we have put
    in place a system that very often requires those who are carrying it out
    to defy common sense, unduly bur-

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    den private taxpayers, and undermine the very objectives we are seeking
    to achieve.
        Now, the author of that book, Philip Howard, has made a major
    contribution to the American debate on this. He's here with us today. He
    has done some work with the Vice President's National Performance
    Review, and I'd like to ask him to stand and be recognized. And thank
    you, sir, for doing this. [Applause]
        Over the last 2 years, we've tried to get this Government of ours
    into some kind of shape. We have lowered the deficit by $600 billion,
    and we've reduced the size of the Federal bureaucracy by over 100,000.
    We're on the way to reducing the Federal work force by more than a
    quarter of a million. It'll be the smallest it's been since President
    Kennedy was here when our budgets are finally implemented.
        Now, we've tried to do more than that. We've tried to do more than
    just cut. We've tried to change the way the Government works. We've
    tried to spend more money, for example, on education and training and
    research and technology, the things that we believe will raise incomes,
    offer more people opportunity, and protect the environment while we grow
    the economy. I don't think we should apologize for that. We should
    exercise judgment and common sense about what we cut and what we spend
    money on.
        We also are trying to change the regulatory environment. I was proud
    to sign the first bill this new Congress passed, which applies to
    Congress most of the laws they impose on the private sector. I think
    that will have a very salutary impact on the deliberations of Congress.
        We are about to get a bill out of the Congress which will restrict
    the ability of Congress to impose mandates on State and local
    governments that are unfunded; I think that is a good idea. And maybe
    most important of all, we're working hard, as the Vice President has
    said, to eliminate rules that are obsolete, to simplify rules that are
    too complicated, to cut paperwork wherever we can, in short, just to
    change the way Government works.
        Most of the people I grew up with, who all write me with their great
    ideas now that I've become President, are just out there living in this
    country, making a living, raising their families, obeying the law, and
    doing the best they can. I believe their biggest objection to Government
    is not the size of it but the way it regulates, the way it operates in
    their own lives.
        And I have done my best, relying on the extraordinary leadership of
    the Vice President and the National Performance Review staff and all the
    people who have been introduced here, particularly from the SBA and the
    EPA and the FDA and the Office of Management and Budget, to try to
    change this.
        Let me just give you some examples. We want economic development.
    We've got the most active Commerce Department in American history. But
    the Commerce Department is also cutting the rules for businesses in
    half. That will also develop the economy. We want nutritious food, and
    the USDA has raised food safety standards, but they're also making it
    easier to import safe fruits and vegetables. We ought to repeal silly
    rules. The Department of the Interior just eliminated feather import
    quotas for exotic birds and a lot of other things as well.
        So what are we going to do now? Today we're announcing the first big
    steps of what I assure you is just the beginning of a process that we
    intend to continue for as long as we have the public trust. First, we
    want to do something that recognizes that most of the businesses in this
    country are small, most of them want to do the right thing, and most of
    the new jobs are being created by them. We want to get our enforcers out
    of the business of mindlessly writing traffic tickets and into the
    business of achieving results. We're going to let these regulators apply
    common sense.
        Two of the three problems Mr. Howard talks about in his book are
    addressed here today. One is that in our attempt to try to tell people
    how we think the Government should regulate, we have tried to imagine
    all conceivable permutations of things that could occur and then write
    rules to cover them. The other is that we've been far more obsessed--the
    Government has in the past--with process than results. That's the
    general problem I might add, of Washington, DC, not confined entirely to
    the Government. [Laughter]
        Today we are ordering a Government-wide policy. Enforcers will be
    given the authority to waive up to 100 percent of punitive fines for
    small businesses so that a business person who acts in good faith can
    put his energy into fixing the problem, not fighting with a regulator.
    In other words, if they want to spend the fine money fixing the problem,
    better they should keep it and fix the problem than give it to the
    Government.

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        Similarly, regulators will be given the discretion to waive fines
    for small businesses altogether if it's a first-time violation and the
    firms quickly and sincerely move to correct the problem. Let me be
    clear: These changes will not be an excuse for violating criminal laws;
    they won't be an amnesty for businesses that harm public health; they
    won't enable people to undermine the safety of the public while their
    competitors play by the rules. But we will stop playing ``gotcha'' with
    decent, honest business people who want to be good citizens. Compliance,
    not punishment, should be our objective.
        The second thing we want to do is to curb the Government's appetite
    for paperwork. We are going to have each agency allow regularly
    scheduled reports to the Government to be cut in half, unless there is
    some important public purpose that won't permit it. In other words, if
    people file quarterly reports, we want the agency to say file them twice
    a year; if they file them twice a year, file annual reports. The Vice
    President likes that. We'll leave more trees up, and we'll save more
    time for small business. Time is money. Time is the most important thing
    we have.
        You know, we got rid of the Federal personnel manuals. I forget--the
    Vice President knows better than I do--I forget how many thousands of
    pages.
        The Vice President. Ten thousand pages.
        The President. Ten thousand pages. You know, I have yet to have the
    first Federal employee come up and attack me for that. [Laughter] I've
    yet to have the first citizen say, ``How dare you waste my money. With
    this new arbitrary system, you got rid of these 10,000 pages. I can't
    sleep at night for thinking about it being gone.'' [Laughter] And
    believe me, nobody will notice this as long as we take care to protect
    the public health, the public safety, and the public interest.
        The second thing I want to talk about are fundamental reforms in the
    area of the environment and drug and medical services. Environmental
    regulation touches every part of our lives. And this is a moment of
    transition in our environmental policy. The modern era began in 1970
    with Earth Day, the passage of landmark legislation and the creation of
    the Environmental Protection Agency.
        The results, we should never forget, are a great American success
    story, envied and copied around the world. Because we made a common
    commitment to protect the environment, people are living longer and
    living better, and we have a chance to pass the country along to our
    children and grandchildren in far better shape than would have been the
    case otherwise. But the methods that worked in the past aren't
    necessarily adequate to the present day.
        Our environmental programs must work better and cost less to meet
    the challenges of the future. Today we are announcing a landmark package
    of 25 environmental reforms. Let me describe them in general terms.
        First we recognize that market mechanisms generally make more sense
    than micromanagement by the Government. Letting utilities buy and sell
    their rights under the Clean Air Act, for example, has saved utilities
    and their customers $2 billion and given us cleaner air. Today we will
    dramatically extend this market concept to other areas of clean air and
    water protection.
        Second, too many businesses are afraid to come to the EPA for help
    in cleaning up their act because they're afraid they'll be punished.
    That's the story you just heard. We're going to open compliance centers
    to help small businesses and say to them, ``If you discover a problem,
    you'll have 180 days to fix it with no punitive fine.''
        And third, because you shouldn't need a forest full of paper to
    protect the environment, EPA will cut its paperwork requirements on
    businesses and communities by 25 percent, that is 20 million hours of
    work for businesses and communities that will be saved for other
    purposes next year.
        While these steps will improve the current system, others will move
    well beyond it to a shift in the way we actually think about regulation.
    EPA will launch a pilot program called Project XL, excellence and
    leadership, which is simple but revolutionary. They will say to the
    companies in the pilot and, hopefully, eventually, the companies all
    across the country, ``Here is the pollution reduction goal. If you can
    figure out how to meet it, you can throw out the EPA rulebook. You
    figure out how to meet the goal.''
        I want to say, especially here, how much I appreciate both the
    environmental groups and the business groups that are here. We know that
    pollution prevention pays. We know pollution prevention and reduction is
    a great source of job creation for America, as well as a guaran-

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    tee for our children that this country will be worth living in.
        We also ought to be smart enough to know that people who are living
    with the consequences of this might be able to figure out how to fix it
    better than folks who are writing rules about it. So we're going to see
    if we can figure out how to do it in this way.
        The other set of major reforms we're talking about involve the
    realms of drugs and medical devices. When I was running for President, I
    don't know how many Americans I had come up to me and talk to me about
    this all over the country but especially in places where a lot of this
    kind of work is done. There was a time when consumers might find that
    their food was adulterated, their drugs were quackery or had dreadful
    side effects.
        Today, Americans don't have to worry about the safety or
    effectiveness when they buy anything from cough syrups to the latest
    antibiotics or pacemakers. The Food and Drug Administration has made
    American Drugs and medical devices the envy of the world and in demand
    all over the world. And we should never forget that, either. And we are
    going to stick with the standards we have, the highest in the world. But
    strong standards need not mean business as usual in every area.
        Today we are announcing a set of reforms that will make our high-
    quality drugs and medical devices available to consumers more quickly
    and more cheaply. First, FDA will stop using a full-blown review every
    time a biotech drug company makes a minor and risk-free manufacturing
    change in an established drug.
        Second, FDA will stop requiring costly assessments on drugs that
    obviously have no significant impact on the environment.
        Third, FDA will eliminate 600 pages of cumbersome regulations
    controlling the production of antibiotics and other drugs. And I'll give
    you $100 if anybody comes up to you and complains within the next 12
    months--[laughter]--when you do that.
        And finally, 140 categories of medical devices that pose low risk to
    patients, from finger exercisers to oxygen masks, will no longer need
    preapproval by FDA before they are put on the market.
        These FDA reforms, and others we'll announce in the next few weeks,
    will keep quality at world-class levels and save industry and consumers
    nearly half a billion dollars a year. And I am pleased, again, to say
    that there are representatives from the drug and medical device industry
    here as well. We appreciate your support.
        I am very, very excited about this. These changes, taken together,
    represent real and fundamental reform. Now, they lack the sledgehammer
    subtlety of a moratorium, but if we're going to be responsible, we ought
    to fix the problem, not just seek to freeze the problem. To go from
    yesterday's Government to tomorrow's Government we need movement, not
    paralysis. We need to continue our commitment to a Government that works
    better, costs less, reflects our values, and can make a difference and
    that doesn't drive us up the wall but drives us into the future
    together. That is common sense, and we can give it to the American
    people together.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:47 a.m. at Custom Print, Inc. In his
    remarks, he referred to Stu McMichael, owner of the company. ''