STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.R. 5226 – Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016
(Rep. Walberg, R-MI, and 14 cosponsors)
The Administration is
committed to ensuring that the regulatory process remains transparent
and that agencies issue regulations, guidance, directives, and policy
statements in compliance with all existing laws and Executive Orders.
H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016, would impose
duplicative, vague, and unnecessary procedural requirements on agencies
that would prevent them from efficiently performing their statutory
responsibilities and potentially lead to a less informed public. For
these reasons, the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 5226.
The Regulatory Integrity
Act of 2016 would be duplicative and costly to the American taxpayer. The separate tracking and reporting of agency communications as
prescribed by the bill is unnecessary, is extremely burdensome, and
provides little to no value while diverting agency resources from
important priorities. In fact, much of the information it would require
already is reported twice a year in the Unified Agenda, which is
publicly available at www.reginfo.gov. The
manner by which agencies communicate to the public on regulations and
their associated impacts already is covered by the Administrative
Procedure Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Information Quality Act,
several long-standing Executive Orders, and agency-specific statutes. Reporting each and every communication would dramatically increase the
cost of regulation to the American taxpayer.
Passage
of H.R. 5226 would undermine long-established regulatory frameworks by
adding unhelpful, duplicative, and burdensome procedural requirements on
agencies, while increasing the cost of regulation to the American
taxpayer.
If the President were presented with H.R. 5226, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
H.R. 5351 – Guantanamo Detainee Transfer Prohibition Act
(Rep. Walorski, R-IN, and 67 cosponsors)
The
Administration strongly objects to H.R. 5351, which would prohibit the
use of funds to transfer any individual detained at the detention
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, either to the United States or any
foreign country. As the Administration has said many times before, the
continued operation of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay weakens
our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships
with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists. In
February, the Administration submitted a comprehensive plan to safely
and responsibly close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
and to bring this chapter of our history to a close. Rather than
constructively engage with the Administration on the imperative of
closing the facility, this bill would seek to prohibit any and all
transfers of detainees, even where such transfers are conducted securely
and responsibly and to further substantial U.S. national security
interests. This bill represents an effort not only to extend the
facility's operation – as have the other unwarranted legislative
restrictions on transfers – but to bring to a standstill the substantial
progress the Administration has made in safely and securely reducing
the facility's population.
As
the Administration has repeatedly emphasized, detainees are transferred
from Guantanamo Bay only after a rigorous interagency review process
assesses, based on all relevant facts and circumstances, that potential
receiving countries are capable of successfully reintegrating them and
implementing appropriate security measures, consistent with our humane
treatment policy. The restrictions contained in this bill would seek to
foreclose entirely the Executive Branch's ability to determine
appropriate disposition options for detainees, including to transfer
them consistent with our national security and our humane treatment
policy, as well as its flexibility to determine when and where to
prosecute them, based on the facts and circumstances of each case and
our national security interests. Moreover, by purporting to prohibit
all transfers of individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay, the bill would
in some circumstances violate constitutional separation of powers
principles, and could interfere with the ability to transfer a detainee
who has been granted a writ of habeas corpus.
If the President were presented with H.R. 5351, his senior advisors would recommend he veto the bill.
Source: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
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