Signs Brew of a Heated Debate Over OMB Nominee

Federal regulation, which usually simmers on the back burner in Washington, seems likely to start boiling in the next few weeks if public interest and labor groups have their way.

Advocacy groups yesterday assailed Susan E. Dudley , the president's nominee to head up regulatory policy at the Office of Management and Budget, and called on the Senate to reject her nomination.

"We believe she is unfit," said Joan Claybrook , president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

By custom, presidential nominees remain silent until their confirmation hearing, so the Bush administration fired back at Public Citizen on Dudley's behalf.

"When a fringe group like this one criticizes Susan Dudley, I think it's a good indication that she's actually squarely in the thoughtful mainstream along with most Americans," said Scott Milburn , press secretary at the OMB. "She's very well suited to . . . keep our regulatory process on track."

To some degree, the dispute over the Dudley nomination reflects inherent tensions in the federal regulatory system. The OMB reviews major agency regulations and can send them back to agencies for more justification. Agencies say their rules flow from laws, do not need more justification and sometimes are backed up by federal courts. The hue and cry increases during Republican administrations, which public interest groups see as tilting policy in favor of big business.

Paul R. Portney , dean of the management college at the University of Arizona, said he thinks public interest groups "don't like the fact that there is this office," regardless of which political party controls the White House, because the OMB questions and forces agencies to justify costs and benefits.

W. Kip Viscusi , distinguished professor at Vanderbilt University, said the Dudley nomination is part of "an ongoing battle where advocates of regulatory programs complain" that the OMB is too powerful.

"The best she can do is try to make the regulations more effective and generate more health and environmental benefits through more imaginative regulatory approaches," Viscusi said.

Portney and Viscusi noted that public interest groups' calls for the Senate to reject Dudley could become a replay of the bruising battle over her predecessor in the regulatory job, John D. Graham . He left as administrator of the OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in February, and the White House announced over the summer the president's intention to nominate Dudley.

Prior to her nomination, Dudley directed the regulatory studies program for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The center has been active in submitting proposals to the OMB that call for modifying or eliminating regulations and has emerged as a policy player in the Bush administration and on Capitol Hill.

Dudley's scholarly articles and published comments will be used to shape the debate over her nomination. During a telephone briefing, Public Citizen, OMB Watch, Natural Resources Defense Council and the AFL-CIO portrayed Dudley as outside the mainstream on regulatory issues.

"I have dealt with OIRA administrators going back to the first one," said Gary Bass , executive director of OMB Watch. "This nominee is more extreme than any of the past ones. She has an anti-regulatory fervor and an ideological zeal that is unparalleled in any of the nominees put forward in years."

The public interest groups faulted Dudley for controversial remarks on rules involving air bags, arsenic limits in drinking water and workplace injuries. All too often, they contended, Dudley inappropriately relied on cost-benefit analyses and overestimated the value of consumer choice when objecting to regulations.

Jonathan H. Adler , a professor and co-director of the Center for Business Law and Regulation at Case Western Reserve University's law school, said Dudley has "generally liked free-market solutions to things" and "is skeptical of one-size-fits-all" regulations.

Dudley, 51, has a master's degree from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked on regulatory issues at the Environmental Protection Agency and at OIRA. Since 2002, she has been affiliated with George Mason University.

Dudley's nomination was submitted to the Senate on Aug. 1, just as Congress left on summer break. The Senate has relatively few work days scheduled in this election year, raising the possibility that President Bush might have to give her an interim appointment if opponents stall her confirmation.

Steven L. Katz, an author and consultant, will discuss "everything new government executives and managers need to know but are never told" at noon today on Federal Diary Live athttp://www.washingtonpost.com. My e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.