Sunday Globe Special: Waiting In Line For Lunch

What could be taking so long up there?  I only have half-an-hour.

"Industry, consumer groups query delay on food safety rules" by Dina ElBoghdady  |  Washington Post, May 06, 2012

WASHINGTON - More than a year after President Obama signed a landmark food safety bill, the key provisions are hung up at a unit of the White House that is in charge of reviewing proposed policy changes.

The delay at the Office of Management and Budget baffles consumer advocates and industry groups, which joined forces to lobby for passage of the legislation and press for its funding. The united front by this unusual alliance and the president’s enthusiastic endorsement of the legislation in the past makes the holdup especially puzzling.

In recent letters to the administration, nearly half a dozen groups expressed frustration with the OMB....

OMB officials say the duration of this review is not unusual, given the complexity of the regulations....

Some specialists who are tracking the issue say that the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has raised questions about the FDA’s analysis of the costs and benefits of the provisions.

Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform, said the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs routinely second-guesses regulators and delays regulation. But usually the delays come at the behest of industry, she said.

With the food safety rules, one explanation could be that the proposals have run into private objections from a company or other party that would be affected by them, Steinzor said. But FDA officials said they have held hundreds of meetings with affected parties and see no sign of such resistance.

--more--"