Government Regulations
With recent polls showing more than 40 percent of small business owners viewing unnecessary federal regulations as a huge detriment to job creation, action must be taken. For some reason, as many politicians cross the Potomac River, they start to believe the federal government creates jobs. That is simply not true; but what is true is that the federal government has the power to destroy them.
During my Regulations Tour of Lowcountry businesses, I saw first-hand the potential damage these regulations can have. A proposed new federal trucking rule will cost a small business in Charleston 5,200 miles a day of driving, and new federal fishing catch limits will cost some of our fisherman nearly $30,000 a year. An email I received from a constituent helped show us that new energy restrictions on home fireplaces – that’s right, your living room fireplace – could cost at least 10,000 jobs nationally.
To help combat these job-destroying rules and regulations, I became an original cosponsor of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which provides Congressional oversight over any major rule or regulation issued by Washington bureaucrats. Agencies pushing their own agenda should not be allowed to shape the future of our economy, and the REINS Act will ensure that doesn’t happen.
I have also cosponsored and voted for the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, and Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act, which literally saves millions of American jobs from overreaching regulations.
The current regulatory environment in this country seems to fit a political agenda more than anything else, regardless of the economic roadblocks it creates. I will fight to create a regulatory environment where businesses can prosper, and the free market can work without the heavy hand of government intervention.