Congressman Bob Gibbs (R-OH) released the following statement regarding the lack of action by the Senate on H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011:
"The American people expect Congress to get its work done. They elect us, we work together to craft legislation, and the President signs it into law. Yet, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 872 by a vote of 292-130 on March 31, 2011. That is a bipartisan, super majority of Representatives who supported a bill. Yet almost seven months later, the Senate has taken NO action despite the looming October 31st deadline.
"The lack of productive activity in the Senate is an embarrassment to the legislative process. They have once again proven they are not serious about providing certainty to the marketplace and restoring confidence to get our economy going. Rather than considering or amending HR 872, the Senate is now going to waste time coming up with a brand new bill of their own that will just kick the can down the road without addressing the problem.
"H.R. 872 is the perfect illustration of why Americans have no faith in Congress. If the Senate can't even act on a bill that passed with the strong bipartisan support HR 872 received -- we will never get anything done.
"The time is now to make a difference in getting our economy moving. The House of Representatives has passed numerous bills focused on strengthening our economy by limiting excessive regulation and providing tax certainty; yet disappointedly, the Senate has failed to act. But the American public wants jobs legislation now and they don't care one bit which chamber the bill comes from -- just that it gets done."