Gov 15

Bureaucracy Assignment
Often, laws passed by Congress are merely frameworks – outlines telling how a
government program is to be basically organized. The details are often left to an agency
charged with carrying out Congress’ vague wishes. These details are worked out in the
thousands of pages of federal rules published each day in the Federal Register.
The amount of, frankly, legislative authority delegated by Congress to federal
bureaucrats never ceases to amaze your professor although, in fairness, the complexity
of many federal programs is far greater than a group of elected officials can be
expected to master.
As you have read in your textbook, proposed rules are printed in the Federal Register,
and comments from the public are generally invited. After receiving comments and
either heeding or ignoring them, the final rule is published several months later.
First, watch
this short video
about the Federal Register.
Next, go to the online version of the Federal Register: http://www.federalregister.gov/
Look for a proposed rule issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on
January 10, 2022, called Safety Standard for Magnets.
For such a seemingly simple topic, it’s a huge rule. I don’t expect you to read and
analyze the whole thing, but read the executive summary, and browse through the rule
a little so you have an idea what they’re doing.
The purpose of publishing rules like this in the Federal Register is so that the public can
have input. For your assignment this week, instead of a 2 -5 page essay, prepare a 2 – 5
page comment on the proposed rule as if you were sending it to the Consumer Product
Safety Commission. (Yes, agency deadline was in March. Pretend it hasn’t passed yet
for this assignment).
Additional Resources
Here’s a little background from the CPSC:
https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Magnets
The Washington Post covered a recall last year that gives you an idea of the problem:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/17/magnet-safety-recall/
The Regulatory Review published a nice, short background piece about the Federal
Register on its 75th birthday:
https://www.theregreview.org/2010/07/20/another-regulatory-milestone-the-federal-regis
ter-act-turns-75/
The National Archives has a Federal Register Tutorial:
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/tutorial/
It also has a few hints on how to prepare a comment on a proposed rule:
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/tutorial/online-html.html#public