Clinton's Last Efforts Called Back

Tuesday, January 23rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Hours after laying out copies of last-minute regulations from the Clinton administration, workers at the Office of Federal Register, wielding staplers, scrambled to attach notices saying the regulations had been withdrawn.

In what has become a Washington tradition when the White House switches hands, President Bush blocked many of Clinton's final actions by preventing them from being printed in the Federal Register.

Caught in the fray were notices for $2.7 billion in housing grants for the poor and new regulations for sightseeing flights over national parks.

The battle left some in the federal bureaucracy wondering Monday what they could enforce â€” and couldn't.

``We're trying to figure it out,'' said Megan Durham, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That agency needed to know whether new maps outlining protected habitats for two endangered species in California â€” the Peninsula bighorn sheep and the arroyo toad â€” would take effect.

Bush's moratorium was one of his first actions after taking the oath on Saturday. His administration intends to review the pending rules and may try to scrap or alter those it opposes. Bush also has promised to review all executive orders already signed by Clinton.

The Office of the Federal Register was flooded on Friday with stacks of new policies and regulations that Clinton officials hoped would be published this week.

Instead, workers at the publication rifled through the stacks Monday and clipped notices to them declaring that the rules and policies were being called back for review under the orders of White House chief of staff Andrew Card.

``Consistent with the directions of Andrew Card ... I am reiterating the request ... that the documents identified on the enclosed list, which have not been published in the Federal Register, be withdrawn,'' read the notice attached to several documents from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The chaotic process is nothing new for workers at the Federal Register. Ronald Reagan did it to Jimmy Carter's administration in 1981, and Clinton blocked some of the last actions of Bush's father in 1993.

``It hit the fan,'' said Steve Karsteter, an editor at the Federal Register. ``There was other work that didn't get done.''

Clinton publicized a handful of his last-minute orders that angered Republicans â€” he put 58 million acres of federal land off limits to road building and logging and issued regulations imposing new workplace safety rules, for instance.

But dozens of rules were pushed through without fanfare until stopped by Bush. Withdrawn regulations included:

â€”A notice making $2.75 billion in HUD funds available for housing, community development and empowerment programs and vouchers to help the poor rent housing.

â€” A Federal Aviation Administration rule that allowed for restrictions on helicopters and airplanes providing sightseeing tours over national parks. Such flights became controversial because of complaints that they disturbed the parks' natural tranquility. Steve Bassett of the U.S. Air Tour Association, which represents tour operators, said the group would not seek changes to the rule.

â€” HUD's final get-tough policy to kick drug dealers and criminals out of public housing. Tenants would have the right to dispute criminal records used to justify their eviction under the rule.

â€” HUD guidelines for making it easier for non-English speakers to apply for federal benefits, including hiring interpreters and providing translations of written material. The rules would apply to state and local governments and any organization that receives HUD money.

â€” A U.S. Trade Representative's rule requiring agricultural agreements forged with the World Trade Organization be reviewed for their impact on the environment.

Bush administration officials were uncertain of the exact number of federal rules that might ultimately be stopped by the moratorium.

Many of the last-minute rules were part of the normal course of government business while others gave Clinton a chance to ``raise the barrier to change policies,'' said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

``You lay down markers of what you think policy should be like,'' Ornstein said. ``If the new administration declines to follow those markers, you've set up a debate.''

A measure cheesemakers sought from the Agriculture Department was temporarily thrown into doubt. But USDA officials decided that it was technically a notice and not a regulation, so it was allowed to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register as scheduled. The measure will allow smaller holes to keep Grade-A Swiss cheese from getting tangled in high-speed slicing machines.

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On the Net:

Federal Register: http://www.access.gpo.gov/suâ€”docs/aces/aces140.html