Susan Dudley

Susan E. Dudley (born May 27, 1955), an American academic and a political appointee in the administration of George W. Bush. Dudley was appointed by Bush in April, 2007, via a recess appointment to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget. This makes Dudley the top regulatory official at the White House.

The President first nominated Susan E. Dudley to serve as the OIRA Administrator on July 31, 2006. The Senate Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on Ms. Dudley’s nomination on November 13, but did not hold a vote to confirm her. Bush re-nominated on January 9, 2007 and appointed her to serve as a senior advisor at OIRA on January 30, 2007.

Personal

Dudley was born in Massachusetts.

Dudley is married to Brian F. Mannix, an economist who is a political appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency, serving as Associate Administrator for Policy, Economics, and Innovation.

Career

Dudley directed the Regulatory Studies Program of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University from 2003 until 2006.

Controversies

Dudley has been termed a conservative academic and her work at the Mercatus ("Market," in Latin) Center generally promoted market solutions over government regulation. She argued, for example, that consumers should be able to choose the efficiency of their household appliances, rather than have the government set energy efficiency standards.

On July 11th 2008, Dudley publicly objected to EPA's analysis of various ways to control greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and transmitted the objections of four cabinet members and four other agency heads. All of these objections were published along with EPA's analysis, which it prepared in response to the April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The act of an administration publishing a document and disavowing its own conclusions has described as an "extraordinary move" by the Wall Street Journal and "tortured policy" by Washington Post.

Links

* [http://www.citizen.org/documents/dudleyreport.pdf Public Citizen and OMB Watch report on Dudley background and nomination: "The Cost Is Too High: How Susan Dudley Threatens Public Protections"]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/pubpress/2007/factsheet_dudley.pdf White House Fact Sheet on Dudley]
* [http://blog.nam.org/archives/2007/04/congratulations_5.php Letter of congratulations to Dudley from the National Association of Manufacturers]
* [http://www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/final_zm_ea.pdf An environmental assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for land in Gainesville, Virginia, owned by Dudley and her husband Brian F. Mannix]
* [http://fundrace.org/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=mannix&fname=brian&search=Search+by+Name The Dudley-Mannix household's donation of $1,000.00 to Bush-Cheney '04 at fundrace.org]
* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/Regulation/wm1250.cfm James L. Gattuso, Who Will Regulate the Regulators? The Battle Over Susan Dudley and OIRA, Heritage Foundation Webmemo #1250, Nov. 9, 2006. ]
* [http://www.epa.gov/epahome/pdf/anpr20080711.pdf EPA Notice on Greenhouse Gases, including Dudley's objections. (5.8MB pdf) ]
* [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1120.pdf Supreme Court ruling 05-1120]