In the run-up to the first round of President Obama’s game of cliffhanger poker with Congress, the White House Office of Management and Budget sat around ignoring an obscure but vital law: It failed to publish the “Spring 2012 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” until just in time for Christmas — nine months late.

The OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is required by law to publish two Unified Agenda reports each year — spring and fall — on the regulations that federal agencies are considering — including bureaucratic monster trucks such as the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Labor Relations Board.