WASHINGTON — Oil spill prevention requirements would no longer apply to spilled milk. Gasoline pumps wouldn’t need devices for trapping vapor pollutants, and there would be fewer bureaucratic hurdles for doctors who want to dispense medical advice to a distant patient.
These were among hundreds of existing regulations that the Obama administration said Thursday it wants to revamp or eliminate in a government-wide effort to ease burdens on business. Overall, the drive would save hundreds of millions of dollars annually for companies, governments and individuals and eliminate millions of hours of paperwork while maintaining health and safety protections for Americans, White House officials said.
“The president believes we need to be very careful to make sure small businesses have room to grow,” said Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s regulatory chief, who described the plans in a speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
The effort was described in hundreds of pages posted online by 30 agencies and departments, at points vague or thick with legalistic references to sections of regulatory codes. The scope was vast — the Defense Department said it is reviewing limitations on former members of the military wearing uniforms, the Transportation Department described a review of consumer-protection guidelines for air travelers and the Food and Drug Administration saying it is revising food labeling rules.
Republicans in Congress have also announced plans to reduce federal regulations. House leaders pledged Thursday that they would approve legislation to require congressional approval of any government rule that “will have a significant impact on the economy.”
