White House Pushes Through a Flurry of Rule Changes Sought by Business

The Bush administration in the past week has adopted several hot-button regulatory changes long sought by business groups, drawing criticism from congressional Democrats. Earlier this year, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten set a Nov. 1 deadline for federal agencies to take final action on new regulations, allowing an exception for "extraordinary circumstances." In a memo dated May 9, Mr. Bolten called on agency heads to "resist the historical tendency of administrations to increase regulatory activity in their final months." Some agencies haven't met Mr. Bolten's deadline, but are expected to adopt final rules before the end of President George W. Bush's term on Jan. 20. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, "There will be some exceptions [to the Nov. 1 deadline] and some judgment calls. Some of those exceptions are because of events beyond our control, but there is no rush to get regulations done before the end of the term or to tie the hands of the next administration."