CEI Joins Coalition Letter Supporting Inclusion of REINS Act Language in NAFTA

Mr. President:

On behalf of millions of members and supporters of our organizations, we write in appreciation of the remarkable pro-growth deregulatory accomplishments of your administration and to urge you to make those accomplishments permanent by including the competitiveness chapter proposed by Senators Cruz, Daines, and Gardner in the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

We specifically urge inclusion in the competitiveness chapter of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which would require costly new regulations to be individually approved by Congress before they could take effect.

In 2015, you committed to vigorously advocate for the REINS Act, which would require any costly new regulations to be approved by Congress before they could take effect.

You said: “I will sign the REINS Act should it reach my desk as President and more importantly I will work hard to get it passed.”

The monstrosity that is the Federal Government with its pages and pages of rules and regulations has been a disaster for the American economy and job growth. The REINS Act is one major step toward getting our government under control.”

The REINS Act is still vitally needed because if the regulatory process is not fixed, your highly successful pro-growth deregulatory efforts could prove ephemeral, reversed by the next Democratic administration that could put all the job-crushing Obama regulations back in place – and worse.

The REINS Act has passed the House and has passed committee in the Senate, but has not been scheduled for a floor vote because of the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

Senators Cruz, Daines, and Gardner’s proposed competitiveness chapter would include the REINS Act along with other key regulatory reforms and provisions on the promotion of manufacturing, infrastructure, and vocational education. We endorse this strategy. Incorporating this package into NAFTA would allow you to submit it to the Senate under fast-track Trade Promotion Authority, protected from filibuster.

The package would strengthen the core objectives of the NAFTA renegotiation by assuring a more stable, business-friendly regulatory environment, making it more attractive for companies to invest and create jobs in the United States. It would also permanently fix the regulatory process, cementing a Trump legacy of pro-growth regulatory reform and making another Obama-like regulatory assault on the U.S. economy nearly impossible.

We therefore urge you to include the proposed Cruz-Daines-Gardner competitiveness chapter, including the REINS Act, in NAFTA renegotiation and submit it to Congress as soon as possible.

Sincerely,