HHS issues the "conscience rule"
December 18th, 2008 | HHS Regulation | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
We’ve been reporting for months on the flurry of midnight rulemaking at executive agencies.
Here’s the latest addition to the list: Health and Human Services today issued a final version of the “conscience rule.” It allows workers at health care facilities — doctors, nurses, pharmacists — to refuse to help provide services they find morally objectionable. Even a janitor could, conceivably, refuse to clean a room where abortions take place.
“Many health care providers routinely face pressure to change their medical practice — often in direct opposition to their personal convictions,†said Joxel Garcia, the department’s assistant secretary of health.
The rule is extremely controversial because it could limit access to abortion and birth control, particularly in rural areas with few medical facilities. If a facility doesn’t accommodate its employees’ “right of conscience,” HHS can cut off its federal funding.
The president-elect could reverse the rule, but that would take months.
In case you’ve forgotten: According to a May memo (pdf) from White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, agencies were not supposed to issue final regulations after November 1.
Tags: abortion, midnight rulemaking
Stopping the clock on midnight regulations
November 24th, 2008 | Regulation | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill which would freeze the “midnight rulemaking” that takes place at the end of an administration.
The bill, H.R. 7296, would impact any regulation adopted in the final 90 days of a presidency. It would prevent those rules from taking effect until 90 days after the new president appoints a new agency head. So if the incoming president doesn’t like a new rule at, say, the Interior Department, his new Interior secretary could cancel the rule within 90 days of taking office.
It’s an interesting idea, though it seems to us a bit short-sighted:
Right now, there’s a rush to adopt new rules in mid-November. That’s because any rule adopted 60 days before the inauguration will take effect before the new president takes office.
Wouldn’t Nadler’s bill just accelerate that deadline by a month?