5th District Job Creators Express Discouragement With Government Regulations

Statement

This past week I held a jobs roundtable with nearly 60 local small business leaders in Danville to talk about the House of Representatives' pro-growth jobs plan and to hear from our true job creators about ways to help jumpstart our economy.

5th District Virginians from Danville, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Martinsville, Henry, and Franklin attended the roundtable, and the overwhelming message I heard from these small business leaders was that the crushing regulatory environment coming out of Washington is stifling growth and hindering job creation.

Sharing their stories about the negative impact unnecessary regulations are having on their businesses, these job creators talked about how business is getting crushed under the weight of additional paperwork, how the redundancy in regulations is overly burdensome, how excessive EPA regulations are making the cost of doing business more expensive, and how onerous regulations are destroying the home building and construction industries.

These small business leaders made it clear that the current regulatory climate has very real consequences for the people of the 5th District and our economic recovery -- something I heard repeatedly as I traveled across the District this past week on our Route 40 Tour.

Making over 40 stops in Kenbridge, Victoria, Chase City, Keysville, Charlotte, Brookneal, Nathalie, Gretna, Union Hall, Moneta, Rocky Mount, and Ferrum, I met with and heard from 5th District Virginians about the need to shrink the size and scope of the federal government to return freedom and opportunity to the marketplace and allow those in the private sector to do what they do best -- innovate, expand, and hire.

That is why the House has made regulatory reform one of the main focuses of our jobs agenda.

Delivering on the message sent by Central and Southside Virginians to remove the government as a roadblock to job creation, the House has already passed dozens of bipartisan bills that would help reduce those unnecessary regulations that are discouraging our job creators, with many more bills scheduled for action in the coming months.

One of those bills is H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation and Prevention Act, which I co-authored along with Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD). As a part of the House's overall jobs plan, H.R. 1633 would help provide immediate relief to farmers and small businesses in rural areas by preventing the EPA from imposing more stringent dust standards.

This week, the Subcommittee on Energy and Power will hold a hearing on H.R. 1633, and I look forward to speaking to the Subcommittee about the critical need to reduce burdensome federal dust regulations on our farmers and small businesses to help foster a better economic environment for job growth.

Solving our unemployment crisis has been and will continue to be the top priority for us in the House.

While we may have different approaches to job creation, the House's jobs agenda includes many proposals that transcend party lines, and we have made every effort to outline the several areas of agreement where both parties and the President can work together to produce results for 5th District Virginians and all Americans.

It is my hope that the Senate will soon join with us in our efforts and take action on the House-passed jobs bill so that we can get America working again.

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