New Dems Join Bipartisan Group to Unveil Major Regulatory Reform Proposal
PPI President Will Marshall highlights the proposal for a Regulatory Improvement Commission at a bipartisan press conference on May 20, 2014.
Today, a bipartisan group of House Members led by U.S. Reps. Patrick E. Murphy (D-FL) and Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) unveiled the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2014, a bill to reform the Federal Code of Regulations by creating a commission tasked with eliminating or revising outdated or redundant federal regulations. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) supports this bill and these important efforts to reign in out of control regulations that hinder the ability of manufacturers to grow jobs and expand facilities. Joining Murphy and Mulvaney in introducing H.R. 4646 are Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY), John Barrow (D-GA), Diane Black (R-TN), Mike Coffman (R-CO), Jim Costa (D-CA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), John Delaney (D-MD), Bill Enyart (D-IL), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), David Joyce (R-OH), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Ron Kind (D-WI), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Reid Ribble (R-WI), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), and Kurt Schrader (D-OR).
“We need to get beyond the tug-of-war between more or less regulation; this bill is fundamentally about making the regulatory system smarter and more responsive to the needs of America’s job creators,” said Rep. Patrick Murphy. “If we really want to kick-start job growth in America, we need to shift the discussion away from the standard partisan positions on regulation and start thinking about how we can build an adaptable regulatory framework worthy of the 21st Century. Our plan does just that, modernizing and streamlining the regulatory framework to encourage growth while safeguarding America’s consumers.”
“Even well-intended regulations can have unintended consequences – consequences that stifle growth and hamper job creation,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney said. “We need to dig our small business owners out from under the mountain of overlapping, duplicative, and often wasteful regulation they are facing today. Our plan would encourage investment, shift needed resources back to productivity and help our entrepreneurs and innovators spend their energies on creating value for customers and shareholders. With smart, bipartisan efforts like these, we can create the regulatory environment we need for robust economic growth.”
According to an analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute, the Federal Code of Regulations grew to 169,301 pages in 2011 – an increase of 138 percent since 1975. Every President since Carter has undertaken an effort to encourage federal agencies to self-review and self-revise regulations, but these efforts have fallen short of the goal of restraining regulatory accumulation. Over time, as older regulations become outdated and new rules are layered on top, American companies are forced to comply with a growing maze of confusing, often useless regulations.
The Regulatory Improvement Act seeks to balance regulatory restraint with consumer and labor well-being by empowering a new, independent, bipartisan commission called the Regulatory Improvement Commission (RIC) to review regulations as submitted by the public and present recommendations to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Modeled along the lines of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the RIC would be composed of representatives from business and civic organizations.
To read the full text of HR 4646, click here.
To read a letter in support of HR 4646 from the American Dental Association, click here.
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