Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. DEUTCH. I am opposed to the bill.

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Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill. It won't kill the bill, and it won't send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will proceed to final passage, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, would mire the rulemaking process in an endless agency analytical and procedural review. This bill would require agencies to engage in speculative analysis on the ``indirect economic effect'' of a proposed rule.

Critical rules that protect the health and safety of our communities, that protect the environment in which we live, and that respond to disasters or pandemics would be stuck in this bill's imposed layers of bureaucratic review, and there would be no relief under this bill for rules that are needed to address an ongoing emergency. Indeed, in the event of an emergency, agencies would be required to conduct a lengthy and time-consuming analysis even of a rule that would protect citizens from harm.

Now a note to my friends on the other side of the aisle. Putting the words ``small business'' in the title of a bill does not magically make it a bill good for small business or good for our national security. Facts are stubborn things, and the fact is that this bill is dangerous to American national security. However, my amendment can change this.

Mr. Speaker, this amendment would ensure the safety and security of the American people. It would ensure that they would not be hindered by additional bureaucratic procedures by ensuring that this act would not apply to any rule that stops the proliferation, spread, or development of nuclear weapons.

The United States has long worked to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide. We have worked to help nations achieve nuclear power without the domestic capabilities to produce weapons-grade uranium. We have worked with the international community to enact United Nations Security Council resolutions to prohibit rogue regimes from procuring materials that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons. This includes a robust sanctions regime aimed at Iran.

Our own Commerce Department has developed detailed procurement regulations to prevent dual use materials from falling into the wrong hands. We have enacted punishing sanctions through the Treasury Department on those who aid in the procurement of materials used for nuclear weapons programs.

Now, let me be absolutely clear about the most important national security threat facing the United States and our allies: a nuclear-armed Iran. All of us here are watching the negotiations closely, and we hope for a diplomatic and negotiated end to the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That is everyone's priority.

However, we must prepare for the possibility that Iran rejects diplomacy. If Iran walks away from the talks, Congress and the President have been clear that we will want to immediately and urgently impose new sanctions. We will need new, fast-moving, antiproliferation actions, and we will have to put immediate pressure on this rejectionist regime.

This bill, in its current form, prevents that. Our national security and that of our allies depends on our agencies acting fast and efficiently. In no uncertain terms, the majority's bill puts our national security at risk.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons will not be stopped by adding new layers of bureaucracy. Iran's sponsorship of terrorist groups is no secret. It openly ships missiles and rockets to Hezbollah and Hamas--designated terrorist organizations that launch attacks on civilians--in direct violation of international law. Now Iran and North Korea are working together, sparking vital proliferation worries. The Ayatollah has declared the two nations share common enemies, and we already know that Iran and North Korea have cooperated on ballistic missiles.

So I would ask my colleagues to imagine a scenario in which Iran walks away from the talks and takes its nuclear program deeper underground, where Iran's activities are sealed and where an arms race is sparked in the region. When it comes to nuclear proliferation and the safety of the United States and international security, the U.S. must have a responsibility to act quickly. Congress cannot--and Congress should not--make it more difficult for our government to act to keep our people safe.

Mr. Speaker, the safety of Americans is too important to tie up in Washington politics. Just this week, Russia announced that it would no longer comply with the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which was specifically designed to ensure the security of existing nuclear stockpiles.

Do we really want, I ask my colleagues, to risk the safety and security of the United States and that of our allies around the world by hindering our ability to halt the dangerous and destabilizing spread of nuclear weapons because an agency must justify the costs or waste resources and time in conducting a costly analysis of alternative ways to eliminate or streamline new regulations? Do we want to hold up regulations, I ask my colleagues, that will help to keep us safe?

All this amendment does is simply protect the American people from the threat of nuclear proliferation. On this, we should be able to come together. I urge my colleagues to support this motion.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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