Olson Votes to Cut Red Tape and Help Business Creation
Press Release
Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) today voted to provide needed regulatory relief for small businesses. H.R. 4078, the Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012, would halt the enactment of major regulations -- providing more certainty for small businesses -- until the economy improves. The bill passed the House by a vote of 245 to 172.
Rep. Pete Olson said, "Business owners in Texas repeatedly tell me that their number one obstacle to job creation is the Obama Administration's burdensome regulations. These oppressive rules increase production costs that are passed on to consumers - further weakening our fragile economy. This legislation stems the tide of excessive, job killing regulations and ensures they are limited in a weak economy.
H.R. 4078 is a package of common-sense bills that would limit economically significant regulations, streamline environmental permitting, bring light to the "sue-and-settle" and unfunded mandate processes, and require more agencies to conduct full cost-benefit analysis of regulations. The bill will also curtail so called "midnight regulations," or regulations created by the Executive Branch to go into effect after an upcoming presidential election or in a lame duck period. This limit on the Executive Branch will provide more transparency and accountability in the rulemaking process.
President Obama's Record on Regulations:
· According the Obama Administration's own data, President Obama's first three years in office saw a 52% increase in the number of completed regulations deemed economically significant over the same time period of the previous administration.
· An official compilation of regulatory actions indicates that the Obama administration has currently proposed 3,118 regulations, with 167 considered economically significant (i.e. expected to have a $100 million or greater impact on the economy).
· In 2011 alone, the Obama administration issued $231.4 billion in regulatory burdens from proposed or final rules and added more than 82,000 pages to the Federal Register.
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