Ohio Republican Bill Johnson has sponsored a bill to limit the ability of bureaucrats to create regulations completely beyond the pale of public scrutiny. It’s called The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act. (I would have preferred “Regulation Nation” myself.) It would require Congress to approve any major new regulations.
Congressman Johnson discussed the need for his bill in an op-ed this morning published in the Hearld-Star.
This issue is not new. Fox News reported in mid-December that the Obama administration had created 6,125 new regulations since election day. This morning Neil Cavuto on Fox Business News said 77,000 new pages of regulations have been generated so far this year.
Congressman Johnson quotes the Small Business Administration as saying it cost $1.5 trillion a year to comply with excessive government regulations. That’s 59,000 people working full time all year long just to deal with red tape. I don’t reckon those are the kind of jobs we want our economy to create.
It costs the average business $10,000 per employee to comply with regulations. Hello! I say nix all the stupid red tape and give ever employee a $10,000 pay raise.
The problem with the current situation is that any government agency can generate regulations out the wazoo. Their excuse is to enforce current laws (as they interpret them). Any regulation has to be open for public comment for a few months before it’s enforced. Like that’s any sort of check and balance.
Bill Johnson’s legislation is long past due. Congress needs to weigh in on every regulation at every level. Who cares if Congress is the mother of all logjams. For once gridlock is a good thing if they take the poison pen away from the Obama administration.
Granted, this bill would only tie Obama’s shoe laces together, but it’s a start.
We need to stop Obama’s radical socialist agenda.
And now.
