Press Releases

West Michigan’s small businesses and entrepreneurs this year have told me the same one thing they need from the federal government to create jobs: Certainty.

They need to know what their tax burden, their health care requirements, and their compliance rules are.

Yet I continue to hear that Administration agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, National Labor Review Board, and the Patent Office frequently move the goal posts on our local businesses, and issue new rules and regulations at an alarming rate that threaten to stifle most these companies.

That’s why I was proud to co-sponsor and vote this week for the REINS Act, which will restore this crucial certainty to small businesses across America. This bill does what it says: reins in the federal government, and holds them accountable for any new regulations that will cost our economy more than $100 million. Right now, there are at least 224 of these regulations that will cost at least that much - totaling $22 billion in economic impact.

This act installs a set of important checks and balances designed to increase oversight and accountability. It will help slow the Obama Administration’s ability to impose excessive new rules from Washington that will have a significant impact on jobs and the economy.

The facts of the toll of regulations on America’s economic prosperity are very real and growing rapidly:

• America’s job creators have a regulatory burden of around $1.75 trillion annually.  That represents nearly double the $936 billion collected in income taxes in 2010.
• Of the 4,225 regulations that have come out of the Obama Administration, 224 are major rules with at least $100 million in economic impact. 
• In America today, small businesses spend about $10,500 per employee to comply with federal regulations.  Compliance leads to higher consumer costs, reduced wages, and even reduced hiring. 
• A recent Gallup poll among owners of small businesses found that complying with government regulations is the most important problem facing them today.

The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act amends the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to require Congress to affirmatively approve every new major regulation proposed by the executive branch before it can be enforced on the American people. 

With the newly enacted health care and financial bills delegating hundreds of new rulemaking opportunities to the executive branch, and agencies like the FCC, EPA, and NLRB engaging in regulatory overreach, the REINS Act will ensure that Congress retains ultimate control and accountability for the content of the laws facing the American people.

President Obama has already threatened to veto this measure, because he’d rather pass a wish list than look at the true costs of it before they become law.

It’s time we hold the President and his administration accountable for the costs they’re imposing on America, so we can start to restore security and prosperity to our economy.

The REINS Act is an important bill that will bring more accountability to the rule-making process, and it deserves a swift vote in the Senate – along with all of the other House-passed jobs bills.

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