WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley has joined in introducing a bill that would require Congress to give final approval to major, new federal regulations before those regulations can take effect.
“A tidal wave of new regulations is hitting the private sector with health care reform and other big pieces of legislation like the financial system reform. The uncertainty about what the real impact and cost of these new regulations will be, along with all of the uncertainty about looming tax increases, make it much harder for employers to make commitments to create new jobs and hire workers,” Grassley said.
Grassley added, “The Constitution vests all legislative power in the Congress yet, year after year, Congress passes legislation that delegates more power to the executive branch without really assessing the full impact of those laws and how that power is used. As a result, federal agencies are increasingly bypassing Congress by imposing new regulations that Congress never intended. This bill takes a big step in the right direction to establish greater accountability for major regulations handed down from the executive branch. It restores some of the checks and balances in our system of government that have been eroded.”
The legislation introduced today defines a major rule as one that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is within the Office of Management and Budget, determines may result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, a major increase in costs of prices for consumers, or significant adverse effects on the economy. Such rules would need to be approved by a joint resolution passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by the President before they can take effect.
The bill has been named the REINS Act, or Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act. It was introduced by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Grassley is an original cosponsor. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Representative Geoff Davis of Kentucky.
A recent report by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy said, “The annual cost of federal regulations in the United States increased to more than $1.75 trillion in 2008. Had every U.S. household paid an equal share of the federal regulatory burden, each would have owed $15,586 in 2008.” According to research by The Heritage Foundation, the Code of Federal Regulations, a compendium of all existing federal rules, hit a record high of 163,333 pages in 2009, an increase of some 22,000 since the beginning of the decade.
The new health care law contains at least 40 provisions that require, permit or contemplate federal rulemaking. “Many of the regulations that already have been released have limited opportunities for public feedback,” Grassley said. “This lack of transparency has left individuals, families and employers struggling to comprehend and comply with the new law.”
Also this year, the Environmental Protection Agency has begun issuing rules to regulate carbon dioxide despite the fact that Congress has considered but not passed legislation for that purpose and existing laws were never intended to apply to CO2. If the EPA is allowed to continue, cumulative gross domestic product losses could reach nearly $7 trillion by 2029, and annual job losses could exceed 800,000 in several years, according to an analysis by the Heritage Foundation.
“EPA’s go it alone policy is a big problem for Iowa families and businesses who will be hit particularly hard because of Iowa’s energy intensive economy, especially in agriculture and manufacturing,” Grassley said.