Searching for and Cutting Regulations That Are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, 175,268. That is the number of pages of Federal regulations on the books that are breaking down the backs of small businesses, farmers, and families across our entire country.

Some of the folks across the aisle may say that there aren't any unnecessary regulations, there aren't regulations that cause an undue burden on families, there may not be any that are outdated. Let me give you a list of a couple that I came across just in the last couple of years.

I spoke to some dairy farmers in my congressional district. Not too long ago, according to the EPA, if they stored more than 1,320 gallons of milk, they had to prepare the same kind of hazardous spill requirement that these large oil companies do with oil spills.

Just a few years ago, we had the Department of Labor try to say whether my nephews or anyone's kids or grandkids could perform common chores on the family farm.

We also had the EPA trying to implement ambient air quality standards that are so unrealistic that literally the Mark Twain National Forest in southeast Missouri would be considered in some areas a nonattainment zone. And I can tell you right now that I would rather breathe the oxygen in southeast Missouri than in any of the big coastal cities on the East or the West side.

We have also seen this administration act with the stroke of a pen to try and implement rules that could not be passed by legislation in Congress, such as cap-and-trade when the Democrats controlled the House in 2010. Now the President is trying to implement those environmental policies, which would ultimately double and triple the utility rates of people on fixed incomes in southeast Missouri.

We had an issue where the National Park Service implemented a rule saying that a local Baptist church in south-central Missouri could not perform their water baptism service along the Current River, an act that they had been doing for decades. This was a rule that came up.

Mr. Chairman, as I have stated, there are multiple rules--and I could go on and on--that are unnecessary, outdated, and causing an undue burden on businesses. This is the opportunity where citizens across the country can come before this commission and request rules to be seen and to be looked at that would actually make government smaller, more efficient, and accountable.

I am asking this body to help support the SCRUB Act so we can reform government regulation at the Federal level like we have done at the State level when I was there.

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