Impact of Congressional Review on FTC Decisionmaking and Rulemaking Processes
HRD-82-89: Published: Aug 17, 1982. Publicly Released: Aug 17, 1982.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
GAO discussed the impact that congressional review has had on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decisionmaking and rulemaking processes, the two final rules submitted to Congress for its review, and the action taken on these rules.
FTC has had limited experience with congressional review. As of July 20, 1982, only two final rules had been submitted for review. GAO identified only one clearly discernible impact of congressional review on the rulemaking process: FTC added a procedural step to transmit final rules to Congress. Other changes in the rulemaking process were unrelated to congressional review. FTC commissioners and staff believe that multiple factors affected FTC decisionmaking activities and that FTC decisions in the rulemaking proceedings reviewed by GAO might be attributed to congressional review in only one instance. However, GAO did find that congressional review has had a significant effect on the two rules submitted. The effective date of the games-of-chance rule was delayed by about 9 months, and Congress disapproved the used car rule on May 26, 1982, which precludes it from becoming effective. This congressional disapproval may have a future impact on FTC rulemaking and decisionmaking processes. Two FTC commissioners said that they anticipated that congressional disapproval of this rule would encourage other special interest groups to persuade Congress to disapprove future final rules. FTC commissioners and staff are concerned that industry lobbying efforts would increase while participation during the rulemaking proceedings may decrease and that congressional decisions to disapprove an FTC rule would be politically motivated.
Sep 28, 2018
U.S. Postal Service:
Enhancing Procedures Could Improve Product ScanningGAO-18-638: Published: Sep 28, 2018. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2018.
Sep 20, 2018
-
Grants Workforce:
Actions Needed to Ensure Staff Have Skills to Administer and Oversee Federal GrantsGAO-18-491: Published: Sep 20, 2018. Publicly Released: Sep 20, 2018.
Sep 17, 2018
-
2020 Census:
Census Bureau Improved the Quality of Its Cost Estimation but Additional Steps Are Needed to Ensure ReliabilityGAO-18-635: Published: Aug 17, 2018. Publicly Released: Sep 17, 2018.
Sep 12, 2018
-
Federal Acquisitions:
Congress and the Executive Branch Have Taken Steps to Address Key Issues, but Challenges EndureGAO-18-627: Published: Sep 12, 2018. Publicly Released: Sep 12, 2018.
Sep 5, 2018
-
Managing for Results:
Government-wide Actions Needed to Improve Agencies' Use of Performance Information in Decision MakingGAO-18-609SP: Published: Sep 5, 2018. Publicly Released: Sep 5, 2018.
Aug 30, 2018
-
2020 Census:
Continued Management Attention Needed to Address Challenges and Risks with Developing, Testing, and Securing IT SystemsGAO-18-655: Published: Aug 30, 2018. Publicly Released: Aug 30, 2018.
Aug 27, 2018
-
2020 Census:
Actions Needed to Address Challenges to Enumerating Hard-to-Count GroupsGAO-18-599: Published: Jul 26, 2018. Publicly Released: Aug 27, 2018.
Aug 15, 2018
-
Federal Employee Misconduct:
Actions Needed to Ensure Agencies Have Tools to Effectively Address MisconductGAO-18-48: Published: Jul 16, 2018. Publicly Released: Aug 15, 2018.
Jul 30, 2018
-
Buying Commercial Products:
Assessment of the E-Commerce Portal Implementation PlanGAO-18-578: Published: Jul 30, 2018. Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2018.
Jul 26, 2018
-
2020 Census:
Bureau Has Made Progress with Its Scheduling, but Further Improvement Will Help Inform Management DecisionsGAO-18-589: Published: Jul 26, 2018. Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2018.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Government Operations
- Best Practices and Leading Practices in Acquisition Management
- Best Practices and Leading Practices in Collaboration
- Best Practices and Leading Practices in Human Capital Management
- Best Practices and Leading Practices in Information Technology Management
- 2020 Census - High Risk Issue
- Collaboration Across Governments, Nonprofits, and the Private Sector
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Department of Energy's Contract Management for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management - High Risk Issue
- DHS Management - High Risk Issue
- Disaster Management
- DOD Weapon Systems Acquisition - High Risk Issue
- Ensuring the Security of Federal Information Systems and Cyber Critical Infrastructure and Protecting the Privacy of Personally Identifiable Information - High Risk Issue
- Federal and Private Sector Pay Comparisons
- Federal Customer Service
- Federal Financial Accountability
- Federal Grants to State and Local Governments
- Federal Leadership Capacity and Continuity
- Federal Real Property - High Risk Issue
- Federal Regulation
- Federal Telework
- Federal Training Investments
- Federal Work/Life Programs
- Managing for Results in Government
- Open Innovation
- Reducing Government-wide Improper Payments
- Strategic Management of Human Capital - High Risk Issue
- Tax Expenditures
- Terrorism-Related Information Sharing - High Risk Issue
- Transparency of Federal Data
- U.S. Postal Service's Financial Viability - High Risk Issue
- Wireless Broadband Spectrum Management
Explore our other Key Issues here
