Boehner asks Obama to detail $1 billion regulations

(Andrew Harrer - BLOOMBERG) House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is pressing President Obama for information on costly government regulations, days after the White House announced a plan to eliminate more than 500 federal rules in an effort to save $10 billion over the next five years.

In a letter sent to Obama on Friday, Boehner reiterated a request he made this time last year for the administration to provide details on regulations with a projected cost of more than $1 billion, arguing that new projections by the White House point to 219 new planned regulations at a nearly 15 percent increase in cost over last year.

“I am again asking that your Administration provide a list of all pending and planned rulemakings with a projected impact on our economy in excess of $1 billion,” Boehner wrote in his letter Friday.

“I ask that you provide this information by the time Congress reconvenes, so that the information will be available as the House considers legislation requiring a congressional review and approval of any proposed federal government regulation that will have a significant impact on the economy as we continue our efforts to remove impediments to job creation and economic growth for the American people.”

The letter comes as the House prepares to take up legislation this fall that would require congressional approval for new federal rules.

Earlier this week, Cass Sunstein, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs administrator, defended the administration’s efforts to streamline existing regulations even as it enacts some new ones, contending that the savings that will be achieved are “a pretty big deal.”