Obama blocks implementation of Bush's pending midnight regulations.

The AP (1/21, Loven) reports the one of President Barack Obama’s "first acts Tuesday was to put the brakes on all pending regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through in its waning days." The "order went out shortly after Obama was inaugurated president, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel." But in "some cases…the Bush administration moved too fast for the incoming administration. For example, just six weeks ago, the Bush administration issued revised endangered species regulations to reduce the input of federal scientists and to block the law from being used to fight global warming."

On its 44 blog, The Politico (1/21, Brown) also notes the Emanuel "memorandum ordering all agencies and departments to stop all pending regulations until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration."

The Washington Post (1/21, A2, Goldstein) reports the "directive has become a first-day tradition among presidents, dating to Ronald Reagan in 1981, helping incoming administrations put their own philosophical stamp on the regulatory work that is a subtle but potent tool of presidential power." Emanuel’s memo "does not apply to last-minute Bush administration rules that have taken legal effect, including a controversial one that went into place yesterday that allows health-care workers to refuse to take part in medical procedures, including abortions, to which they object."

ABC World News (1/20, story 4, 2:40, Tapper) reported President Obama "assumes control of this country’s nuclear codes, and this afternoon, his Administration issued a memo telling all departments and agencies to halt implementation of all pending rules and regulations from the Bush Administration." Obama also signed "three presidential orders," and the Senate "confirmed seven of President Obama’s nominees."