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Reining in Government Regulation
Posted by Randy | June 01, 2011

Federal agencies issue thousands of regulations impacting all areas of the economy, spanning from attempts to control the Internet and the environment, to mandating calorie counts by chain restaurants and vending machine operators.  These regulations have costs in terms of time and manpower in order for businesses and job creators to comply.  For example, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it will take the food service industry 14 million additional hours each year to comply with the new calorie count regulation recently passed along with the new health care law.

According to the Heritage Foundation, the total economic cost of the 43 major regulations imposed by the Administration in 2010 was $26.5 billion.  A 2010 report conducted by the Small Businesses Administration revealed that the total cost of federal regulations since 2005 has increased from $727 billion to $1.172 trillion, a $445 billion increase.

Those hit hardest by these increasing economic regulations are small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, costing these businesses an average of $10,585 per employee.  Although small businesses feel the burdens of government regulation the most, big businesses are impacted significantly as well.  For example, it costs businesses with more than 500 employees an average of $7,755 per employee.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy representing 99.7 percent of all employer firms.  To rein in the costly overreach of federal agencies that stifles job creation and hinders economic growth, I am cosponsoring the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. 

This bill would ensure legislative accountability in Congress and restore the constitutional balance of powers by requiring Congress to take an up-or-down vote on every government regulation deemed a “major rule” before it can be imposed on the American people and businesses.  In so doing, Congress can begin to roll back the burdensome regulation that is draining the revenue of our small businesses.

You can read more about this bill here.
Comments
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  • R W commented on 6/3/2011
    Poker is not a CRIME! Please stop the intereference of the government in the citizens personal preferences of online gaming. The UIGEA was pushed through in the middle of the night in 2006 without a vote against millions of americans wishes. I thought that the government was supposed to be FOR the people, BY they people...what happened to the wishes of the people??? Is no one listening? I said back in 2006 that if the UIGEA is passed, the Republicans will fall due to interfering with a PERSONAL chioce. What an ARCHAIC law! This has come to pass due to MILLIONS of americans that became angry with this kind of invasion to personal privacies. Once again, the government is interefering with seizing poker websites and peoples monies without cause. What are you people thinking? Online gambling/poker has begged to be taxed and recognized but all that has been done is pure hurt to people by the DOJ stealing personal monies by these seizures! enough already with this privacy invasion! LISTEN to the people! They want regualtion and taxation and want to enjoy a game in the privacy of their own homes. If this is ignored once again, then the Republicans will once again lose to the majority of voters wanting their freedoms reinstated.!!
  • Dan Bray commented on 10/28/2011
    They've taken this too far. So much money wasted and for what? I think they should be a public vote on new regulations. The Federal agencies are having too much control. They don't need to control everything, after all America is supposed to be the land of freedom. - Dan http://www.danspoker.com
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