Rep. McKinley Pushes for Greater Transparency and Accountability in Government

Statement

Today, Rep. David B. McKinley, P.E. (R-WV) voted to protect West Virginia jobs and pass the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2013. The legislation would require Congressional approval of any new major regulation issued by a federal agency.

An amendment offered by McKinley to reduce the threshold for a major rule on federal regulations from $100 million to $50 million, was adopted into the bill.

"The Obama Administration and its overly aggressive bureaucrats are playing with people's lives," said Rep. McKinley. "Just because the Administration can issue a regulation, doesn't mean it should. Excessive, unchecked regulations from the Obama Administration harm working families by threatening jobs in energy, manufacturing and many other industries."

For the past two years just over two percent of all the rules individually exceeded $100 million according to the regulators; therefore, 98 percent were not subject to review by Congress.

"Currently, only two percent of regulations are reviewed by Congress," said McKinley. "To put that into perspective, would you be satisfied if only two percent of the food that you eat, the planes you fly in, or the cars you drive were inspected? Congress needs to have more oversight over the regulations that are holding back our economy."

"This legislation will reign in out-of-control agencies and allow more people to get back to work," added McKinley.

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