President Obama on Monday issued an executive order asking the NCUA and other independent regulatory agencies to come up with a plan within 120 days for cutting regulations that are excessive and duplicative.
"I hope you see this as an opportunity to do something big and lasting — to change the ways of Washington," Obama wrote in a letter to the agencies accompanying the executive order.
It is similar to an executive order that the Obama administration issued to federal agencies earlier this year but those departments, such as the Treasury Department, have to comply with the executive order.
By contrast, today’s isn’t binding because the way the independent agencies are set up limits the amount of the jurisdiction that any administration can have over it.
Cass Sunstein, the Obama administration’s top regulatory official, said the order is a “positive step toward promoting economic growth and job creation.”
He added that agencies could still enforce the new regulations required under last year’s financial overhaul bill while cutting back on others.
NCUA spokesman David Small wrote in an email that the agency “already reviews its regulations every three years to update, delete or ease regulations that are no longer applicable. The NCUA will be looking at this executive order and reviewing our processes.’’
