Directing Committees to Review Regulations from Federal Agencies

Floor Speech

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on the resolution (H. Res. 73) providing for consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 72) directing certain standing committees to inventory and review existing, pending, and proposed regulations and orders from agencies of the Federal Government, particularly with respect to their effect on jobs and economic growth, on which the yeas and nays are ordered.

The Clerk read the title of the resolution.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous question.

This is a 5-minute vote.

The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 240, nays 180, not voting 13[.]

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Mrs. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the former chairman of the Transportation Committee, the gentleman from the great State of Alaska (Mr. Young).

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I thank the good lady for yielding.

Mr. and Mrs. America, our economic growth is being stifled by 165,000 pages of regulations; 1.4 million laws were never voted on by this body. They are the law of the land, passed by the bureaucracy. We are to blame for this ourselves.

As you can see from the chart--I venture they will get it up here--the number of environmental laws and executive orders affecting the construction industry has exploded since 1965. Just take a look at this. Here is where we are. Look at what they have to go through here. All these things have to be met by the construction company. This is why it takes 17 years to build a highway.

I want to keep in mind now--you keep hearing about creating jobs. You do not create a job; you allow a job to be created, and regulations prohibit that. We see regulations every day that prohibit the growth of industry and jobs in this country. You mentioned, Mr. Ranking Member, who was chairman, we can't even mine coal because of regulations.

So let's start thinking about the money. By the way, it costs $1,000,100,000,000 a year to implement these regulations that were never voted on. We can balance the budget in 13 years if we eliminate these regulations.

The agencies keep going forth each day spending more money. Their idea of success is having another law that has never been voted on. It gives an untold power to the executive branch. This is the House of the people, and if we don't address this issue, shame on us. It is absolutely important.

I just got a regulation proposed at Alaskan Airlines. They had to get a permit. By regulation, they are required to apply to the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration before they could fly it. You know what it was? It was whipped cream. You can't fly whipped cream without a permit. Another regulation from an agency. Who thought that up?

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mrs. SCHMIDT. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. The second one, the newest one to come out is a regulation by EPA under the oil spill liability clause where the EPA is proposing a regulation to apply to dairies because milk has fat in it. They want to apply the oil spill liability regulation to a dairy. That means each cow costs $600 per life of the cow because they want to clean up milk. The saying "don't cry over spilt milk" is now going to cost you money, a regulation by an agency that makes no sense at all.

Wake up, Mr. and Mrs. America. Let's eliminate these regulations that prohibit job creation in this country. That is what we ought to be talking about.

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Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).

(Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I thank the gentleman.

I have a prepared statement here and I'll probably use some of it. I can't help but answer the gentleman from Massachusetts, who has never supported at any time, has never supported in any way, any energy development in this country. He was against nuclear power many years ago. He is still against it. He was against solar power and then since it is wind power in his State. And he's against, very frankly, any fossil fuel development. And depending on his so-called make-believe wind power, make-believe solar power, in the meantime, we're buying oil from overseas. And you know that.

The EPA, very frankly, is part of the problem. I am the chairman now of the American Indian and Alaska Natives and their lands can't be developed because of EPA. The Navajo Nation had a coal plant. They had the coal. They had the financing. And the Obama administration says, no, you can't do that through the EPA, through the Fish and Wildlife, et cetera, and they lost the financing for a coal project because they don't believe in coal. We have a trust relationship to the American Indians. And to have other agencies within the government say, ``No, you can't do it, you stay right where you are'' is wrong. They have the highest potential of energy of any land mass in this Nation and they're precluded from development because of regulations.

EPA just came out--I mentioned this earlier today--with a new concept of a regulation for dairies. This is your government, the Obama administration. And, by the way, thank God for George Bush. They're still blaming him for everything. But if I remember correctly, Horizon was done under the Obama administration. If I remember correctly, it was his Minerals and Management agency that wasn't doing their job. There were enough regulations in place. They weren't doing their job. If I remember, that's correct. George Bush was out of office.

But EPA now comes out with a new regulation under the oil spill liability where we develop oil that the moneys will be put aside for a cleanup, of which I support, but there are new regulations because they want to regulate the dairies of our Nation today. Mr. and Mrs. America, keep in mind, they want to regulate the dairies today because there's fat in the milk. Fat in the milk. And they want to have each cow be charged $600 per lifetime of that dairy, put aside in a fund to clean up spilt milk. That's your EPA and regulations. Remember, the term ``don't cry over spilled milk'' is going to cost you money now. That's the government regulations. I can go on and on what they've done to American Indians. They don't allow them to develop their resources. There's a paternalistic type of society they have today. And I'm saying here as chairman, we are going to develop those resources in the nations that they are. That's our responsibility as a Congress. And to preclude that because of actions of regulatory agencies is dead wrong.

I am asking my colleagues to remember this. Every committee should be looking at every regulation. You want to balance this budget?

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. By the way, 1,600,000 laws on the books today were never voted on by anybody. Not ever voted on. It costs $1.01 trillion a year to implement those regulations. You want to balance the budget? Eliminate those regulations and you can balance it in 13 years. We could have industry again.

I'm just saying this is a good idea. Let's pass it.

Federal policies and regulations stand in the way of economic progress and free enterprise for all Americans, but the problem is especially bad in Indian Country.

Indian reservations have the highest rates of unemployment and poverty of any comparable areas in America.

These statistics are astounding when you consider that tribes own an estimated ten percent of the Nation's energy potential.

But so many tribal lands lie vacant and unused.

The problem is that development of Indian land is based on outdated, paternalistic Federal laws and policies.

Let me describe a few examples of these laws and policies.

We have the Long-Term Leasing Act ..... a 56-year-old statute that restricts most Indians from leasing their property for more than 25 year terms. In some cases this has prevented tribes from constructing new homes.

There is the National Environmental Policy Act, a law routinely used to delay and stop the use of lands reserved exclusively for tribes under solemn treaties with the United States.

The Endangered Species Act has become the weapon choice by special interests seeking to harm tribal development.

And then we have the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. One of the first acts of the Obama Administration was to have these agencies stop the Navajo Nation from building and operating a 1,500 megawatt power plant on its reservation.

The project would have created thousands of good jobs on a reservation with 50 percent unemployment, generating $1.5 billion over 30 years for the tribe's treasury.

Thanks to our government, the tribe is not allowed to create jobs for its citizens or produce power for millions of consumers.

This is wrong.

Tribes are caught in a Catch-22. They have over 50 million acres of land pursuant to treaties and Acts of Congress, but the catch is they can't use them without permission of Washington, DC.

Tribes are suffering from 19th-century Indian policies, and the result is a continuing Great Depression across many reservations.

Fortunately, a number of tribes have taken control of their resources from Washington, DC. They have proven to be outstanding stewards of their lands while providing huge energy resources needed by the country.

The Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs is going to study the accomplishments of these tribes. We will consider changing outdated laws and policies that stand in the way of tribal economic development.

I look forward to the Subcommittee making progress--on a bipartisan basis--to create more tribal opportunity, and more tribal freedom from outdated Federal laws.

These sort of harmful regulations are not unique to Indian Country. For example, my Alaska fishermen are faced with similar crippling stupidity.

EPA now requires fish processing vessels operating in the Bering Sea to take water samples which are then tested at such a high resolution level that the tests cannot be performed by any labs in Alaska. The samples have to be sent out of Alaska at great expense.

To make matters worse, the test are required to be so precise and to such an unrealistic resolution level that if a technician has mercury amalgam fillings, his breath could alter the result.

In another instance, EPA is requiring complex seafood processing permits and gear for Alaska's small freezer troll fleet.

These folks only catch about 1,000 pounds of fish a day. They have 45-foot fishing boats and one or two deck hands--they fish with hook and line and clean their fish immediately. They toss fresh fish heads right back into the waters they came from--one at a time, and EPA wants them treated like a big factory ship. This is preposterous!

Again, this Committee will examine these issues and take steps to remove these foolish regulations that are stopping the production of new wealth.

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