When I talk to my colleagues in Washington, D.C., they do not always understand the burdens rural America faces from unnecessary regulations. During my first week in Congress, an “expert witness” told me it was pure fiction that government regulations affect private industry. It felt like the Twilight Zone and is exactly what’s wrong with Washington. Unelected bureaucrats that have never left five square miles around D.C. are trying to regulate every aspect of our lives. From the Environmental Protection Agency’s overreach on wood stoves to the Department of Labor regulating family farms, our rural way of life is under attack. That is why I reintroduced the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act (SCRUB Act) this week. Ineffective and intrusive federal regulations are still holding back economic opportunity across the country.
My mission with the SCRUB Act is to require a full evaluation of all 175,000-plus pages of the Federal Register and identify outdated and ineffective regulations for removal. We certainly do not need all 175,000 pages of government meddling – that is more than five times longer than the entire set of Encyclopedia Britannica! Streamlining existing rules will lessen regulatory burdens on small businesses and give them the freedom to innovate and grow.
Excessive regulations impose a very real weight on job creators and families. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses spend an average of $10,585 per employee each year to comply with federal regulations. This costs Americans $2.028 trillion in lost economic growth each year, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. Moreover, the Competitive Enterprise Institute found that for each household in America, the price tag of regulation exceeds $15,000. It’s time for action to reduce these costs on job creators and American families.
While I work to get this bill passed in the House, Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah is introducing the SCRUB Act in the Senate. Together we are fighting to cut Washington’s red tape with common sense reforms that will help hardworking Americans keep more money in their pockets.
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