Statement of Administration Policy: S. 853 - National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act Authorization

(Senate)
(Sen. Gore (D) Tennessee)

The Administration opposes enactment of S. 853. The bill includes a number of provisions proposed during the 99th Congress that the Administration has previously opposed, as well as several new objectionable provisions. Some of the objectionable provisions would:

• Impose numerous prescriptive regulatory requirements and direct the Department of Transportation to undertake complex rulemaking actions within excessively short timeframes, in some cases without regard to the costs of these actions. The timeframes for these regulatory mandates would also interfere with full consideration of public comments on proposed actions.
  
  
• Mandate costly and time-consuming studies, most of which would duplicate earlier work and also require the committment of substantial resource.
  
  
• Burden the States with additional administrative requirements, which in some cases duplicate existing programs and in others impede the implementation of requirements imposed by legislation enacted only last fall.