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In a First Act, Bush Blocks Clinton Orders
Deborah Charles
01/20/01
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moving quickly upon taking office, President George
W. Bush on Saturday issued an order that essentially blocked some of the
last-minute executive orders and rules laid down by outgoing President
Clinton.
The order was believed to apply to such orders as new regulations for
managed care programs under Medicare and new environmental rules on runoff
from animal feeding operations.
It would also apply to Clinton's declaration of the former military post of
Governor's Island in New York Harbor as a national monument, a designation
Clinton made on Saturday.
Bush's move did not apply to the 140 presidential pardons and 36 prison
sentence commutations that Clinton issued less than two hours before his
term expired on Saturday.
Bush's order, signed by new White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and sent
to the heads and acting heads of executive departments and agencies, said
the decision was made ``to ensure that the president's appointees have the
opportunity to review any new or pending regulations.''
``It's a way for us to conduct a more thorough and effective review of these
last-minute regulations,'' Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The order meant that no new rules could be printed in the Federal Register,
which blocked them because the rules cannot take effect until they have
appeared in the Federal Register for a period of time.
Bush also issued a 60-day stay on regulations that were published in the
Federal Register but have not yet taken effect.
Some of the blizzard of rules issued by Clinton in his last days in office
angered Republicans, particularly his decision to declare nearly 60 million
acres of federal land, mostly in the western states, off limits to logging.
That order, however, came after a lengthy federal review period and would
appear to be extremely difficult to withdraw.
BUSH DEMANDS INTEGRITY, DECLARES DAY OF PRAYER
Fleischer said the new administration had a variety of options on how to
deal with Clinton's orders. ``I expect some will be repealed, some will be
amended, some will be kept.''
In other initial items of business, Bush directed employees of his new
government to observe ``the highest standards of integrity,'' declared
Sunday a national day of prayer and enacted a hiring freeze.
In a memorandum to the heads of government departments and agencies, Bush
said employees should not use public office for private gain. They should
disclose waste, fraud, abuse and corruption to appropriate authorities.
``Everyone who enters into public service for the United States has a duty
to the American people to maintain the highest standards of integrity in
government,'' Bush said in the memo.
The memo, released less than two hours after Bush took the oath of office as
America's 43rd president, followed Bush's campaign pledge to ``restore honor
and dignity'' to the White House after the ethical lapses and scandals of
the Clinton administration.
``It is a living and breathing reminder to our staff and to the nation of
the importance that the president himself attaches to high ethic standards
and government service,'' Fleischer said.
Card sent a separate memo to heads of executive departments and agencies,
saying Bush froze hiring until a department or agency head appointed by Bush
approves it. He also said each agency head will be instructed to develop a
plan to meet Bush's goal of reducing management ranks.
Reflecting his deep religious convictions, Bush also signed a proclamation
declaring Sunday a ``national day of prayer and thanksgiving'' to celebrate
the peaceful transfer of power between him and Clinton.
``On this day, I call upon Americans to recall all that unites us,'' Bush
said in the proclamation.
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