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Abstract

One of the most common justifications for broad delegations to administrative agencies is agency expertise, which is said to exceed Congress’s own by a wide margin. To assess this argument, we need to inquire about Congress’s ability to access agencies’ expertise. Agency experts routinely share their expert knowledge; indeed, the federal regulatory process runs on such expertise-sharing. There are good reasons to think Congress, too, can share in agency experts’ knowledge, since many of the factors that enable the sharing of agency expertise within the executive branch, and in particular within the regulatory review process run by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, are present in the Congress-agency relationship as well. An examination of OIRA review does, though, turn up some ways in which Congress could enhance its ability to share in agency expertise.