July 19, 2001
SENATORS THOMPSON AND LEVIN URGE CONFIRMATION
OF
DR. JOHN GRAHAM AS OIRA ADMINISTRATOR
Washington - U.S. Senators Fred Thompson (R-Tennessee) and
Carl Levin (D-Michigan) today issued the following statement in
support of Dr. John Graham, nominee for Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB):
The Senate is about to consider the nomination of Dr. John
Graham to oversee the Administration's regulatory policy as the
head of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
This position has always been subject to controversy, because
the OIRA Administrator sits at the center of every major
regulatory debate in this country, from drinking water standards
to auto safety to sulphur emissions. We support Dr. Graham's
nomination to this position because we believe he will carry out
the duties of the office in a fair and responsible manner, and
because we believe he understands the value of meaningful and
competent cost-benefit analysis in deciding how to best use
society's resources.
As Cass Sunstein, a respected professor at the University of
Chicago Law School, has said:
"John Graham . . . cannot be pigeonholed as
'conservative' or 'liberal'; on regulatory issues, he's
unpredictable in the best sense. I wouldn't be surprised at
all if, in some settings, he turned out to be a vigorous
voice for aggressive government regulation. In fact, that's
exactly what I would expect. When he questions regulations,
it is because he thinks we can use our resources in better
ways; and on this issue, he stands as one of the most
important researchers, and most promising public servants,
in the nation."
As a professor of decision sciences at the Harvard School of
Public Health and the founder of Harvard's Center for Risk
Analysis, Dr. Graham has devoted his career to identifying
effective ways to save lives, prevent injuries and diseases, and
protect the environment. In addition to his contributions as a
scholar and teacher, Dr. Graham has long been a strong advocate
of improving government regulation. Dr. Graham was cited in a
pro-airbag decision by the Supreme Court in 1983. He was a
pioneer in bringing risk analysis to the Clean Air Act
Amendments of 1990. In 1991, Surgeon General Antonia Novello
recognized Dr. Graham for his service in the development of a
national agenda for the field of injury prevention. In 1996, Dr.
Graham worked closely with Congress on the Safe Drinking Water
Act, a life-saving law that passed the Senate 98 to 0. And he
has supported legislation we proposed to improve regulatory
decisions.
We have received testimonials attesting to the credentials
and integrity of Dr. Graham from hundreds of recognized
authorities in environmental policy, health policy, and related
fields. Former EPA Administrator William Reilly said that John
Graham has "impressed me with his rigor, fair-mindedness
and integrity." Dr. Louis Sullivan, the former Secretary of
Health and Human Services, said "Dr. Graham is superbly
qualified to be the OIRA Administrator." Former OIRA
Administrators from both Democratic and Republican
Administrations conveyed their confidence that John Graham
"is not an 'opponent' of all regulation but rather is
deeply committed to seeing that regulation serves broad public
purposes as effectively as possible." Dr. Robert Litan, a
respected expert on regulatory policy at the Brookings
Institution, said Dr. Graham "is the most qualified person
ever nominated for the job" of OIRA Administrator. A letter
of support by about 100 scholars in environmental and health
policy and related fields observed:
"It is very regrettable that some interest groups
that disagree with John's views on the merits of particular
issues have chosen to impugn his integrity by implying that
his views are for sale rather than confronting the merits of
his arguments. Dialogue about public policy should be
conducted at a higher level."
There has been a lot of misinformation swirling around this
nomination. Dr. Graham's extensive writings have been misquoted
more than once, and space does not permit a full response. We'll
leave it at this:
! John Graham is not anti-regulation. Like other
challenging thinkers -- including Justice Stephen Breyer and
distinguished groups organized by the Carnegie Commission
and the National Academy of Public Administration -- he has
argued that better informed decisions could lead to greater
environmental, health and safety protection at less cost.
! John Graham is not anti-environment. He and his
colleagues have produced scholarship that has backed a wide
range of environmental policies, including toxic pollution
control at coke plants; the phase-out of chemicals that
deplete the ozone layer; and low-sulphur diesel fuel
requirements. Dr. Graham also has supported new
environmental policies to address indoor air pollution and
tax credits for fuel-efficient vehicles.
! Charges that John Graham or the Harvard Center
has allowed corporate funding to influence scientific
conclusions are unfounded. Frank Cross, Professor of
Business and Law at the University of Texas, said "this
criticism is unwarranted, unfair and inconsistent with the
clear pattern and practice of most (if not all) similarly
situated research centers." We found that the Harvard
Center's policies on funding, disclosure and conflicts of
interests were in accordance with the policies of Harvard
University, and in many cases, the Center's findings were
contrary to corporate interests.
! John Graham is in the mainstream of science and
policy analysis. Numerous federal agencies, including EPA,
the Centers for Disease Control, the National Cancer
Institute, the National Science Foundation, and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
! have funded the Harvard Center's work. EPA's
Science Advisory Board invited Dr. Graham to serve as
consulting expert in its review of dioxin. Dr. Graham was
elected President of the International Society for Risk
Analysis, an organization of 2,500 scientists, engineers and
scholars dedicated to promoting risk analysis to improve
decision making. Many of his over 130 articles have appeared
in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, such as The New
England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Public
Health, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and
the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
We believe that Dr. Graham will use his valuable experience
to bring more insight into the issues that confront OIRA every
day. He made crystal clear at his confirmation hearing that he
will enforce the laws of the land as Congress has written them.
He understands that there is a significant difference between a
professor's role of questioning old ways of thinking and the
OIRA Administrator's role of implementing the laws and the
President's policies.
Having worked on this nomination for many months, we are
confident that a fair review of the record will lead the Senate
to conclude that Dr. John Graham has the qualifications and
character to serve the public with distinction. Our committee
colleagues agreed, with a bipartisan nine to three vote.
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