Small Businesses Deserve Regulatory Breaks

Statement

On July 26, I voted to give the nation's small businesses certainty to create jobs and grow the economy through his support of the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act (H.R. 4078). The House passed the bill by a vote of 245 - 172 and sent the measure to the United States Senate for consideration.

The nation's economy will not gain steam unless our job creators - the nation's small businesses - have the certainty they need to move ahead with strategic business plans. The Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act will clear the way for that movement by tearing down burdensome red tape and freezing new federal regulations until nationwide unemployment is at or below six percent.

Current statistics form a tangled web. A Small Business Administration study found regulations cost employers $10,000 per year, per employee. ObamaCare regulations have imposed an estimated $17.1 billion in private-sector burdens, approximately $7.2 billion in costs to states, and 59.2 million annual paperwork hours to the workload.

And, that's not all. The Dodd-Frank law has produced regulations with more than $7 billion in direct costs with one estimate saying the law would require 26,500 individuals working full time just to complete the paperwork. This picture has got to change and clearing away heavy regulatory burden will provide the hope and certainty that our nation's job creators need to move forward and succeed.

Specifically, H.R. 4078 would:

* Impose freeze on economically significant regulations that harm the economy until unemployment reaches 6 percent or lower;

* Permanently prevent "lame duck" administrations from issuing economically significant regulations;

* Ensure that impacted parties have a right to intervene before federal agencies agree to binding legal settlements that require them to issue new regulations;

* Require independent federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the National Labor Relations Board to comply with the same regulatory review requirements as other agencies and require increased transparency with respect to unfunded mandates that are imposed on state and local governments;

* Create a streamlined process for consideration of federal permits for construction projects; and

* Require both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to conduct more thorough cost-benefit analyses of proposed regulations.

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