Why OIRA is crucial for our democracy.

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K. Sabeel Rahman, who served in the Biden administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) from 2021 to early 2023. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Law School.


** The Deep[ly Necessary] State
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If you’ve never heard of OIRA, you aren’t alone. But while small, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is a mighty federal agency ([link removed]) , with a vital role in reviewing and implementing executive branch regulations—for example, regulating pollutants in the air.

It’s also a popular target for some on the right. When conservatives target the administrative state and paint executive powers or civil service as overreaching, agencies like OIRA are what they’re disparaging.

What would the US look like without the administrative state? And what can progressives do to protect it?

On a new episode of How to Save a Country, hosts Felicia Wong and Michael Tomasky ask those questions (and many more) of OIRA’s recent leader, K. Sabeel Rahman, who served in the agency from 2021 to early 2023.

Rahman is the co-founder and co-chair of the Law and Political Economy Project ([link removed]) , the former president of the think tank Demos, and the author of the books Democracy against Domination ([link removed]〈=en&) and Civic Power: Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis ([link removed]) (co-authored by Hollie Russon Gilman).

As Rahman tells Wong and Tomasky, OIRA is indispensable in that rebuilding.

“Of course we want our government to be responsive and accountable to the public,” he says. “But I would actually argue that the way we do that is through the regulatory process, through having policymakers in government who are apolitical, neutral civil servants whose whole mission is to serve the public, not to serve any one party.”

Listen now, and follow for new podcast episodes every Thursday ([link removed]) .

And for more from Rahman, check out his essay on industrial policy and inclusion ([link removed]) in our recent collection, Industrial Policy Synergies: Reflections from Biden Administration Alumni ([link removed]) .


** What We’re Reading
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Climate Risks Have Made California Uninsurable. When Will We Wake Up? [by Roosevelt fellow Kate Aronoff] ([link removed]) - The Guardian

What Happens If the SEC's Coinbase Lawsuit Lands at the Supreme Court? [feat. Roosevelt fellow Todd Phillips] ([link removed]) - Quartz

How Reparations for Black Americans Have Gained Steam [feat. Roosevelt senior fellows William Darity Jr. and Darrick Hamilton] [paywall] ([link removed]) - Washington Post

Alabama Discriminated against Black Voters, US Supreme Court Rules ([link removed]) - The Guardian

As Smoke Darkens the Sky, the Future Becomes Clear ([link removed]) - New York Times

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