Senate Action on $2 Trillion Gov’t Regulatory Burden Urgently Needed
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — Regulatory reform is urgently needed to get our economy and businesses out of the doldrums, and there’s a House-passed bill that would help. But the Senate won’t take it up. That’s why today, a coalition of reform-minded groups led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute called on the Senate to take action and pass the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013, also known as the “REINS Act.”
The REINS Act would require both houses of Congress to explicitly approve any rule with demonstrated economic impact of $100 million or more per year before it could take effect. This would force Congress to monitor the laws it writes, ensure regulations don’t go beyond the scope of those laws and stop regulations it finds unnecessary or overly intrusive.
“This bill restores legislative accountability to the federal regulatory process by providing for meaningful congressional oversight over new regulations agencies impose on the American people,” the coalition letter states. “This is especially important given that, for the first time in history, annual regulatory compliance costs amounted to $1.8 trillion in 2012, which, for the first time, was more than half of all federal outlays ($3.4 trillion).”
Signatories to letter include Freedom Action, FreedomWorks, American Commitment, Americans for Prosperity, Frontiers of Freedom, Taxpayer’s Protection Alliance, Less Government, Campaign for Liberty, American Conservative Union, The Heartland Institute, 60 Plus Association, Center for Individual Freedom, Americans for Tax Reform and the Cost of Government Center.