WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) applauded the passage of two bills he cosponsored to protect American families and small businesses from federal government overreach.

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would require Congressional approval of regulations that are projected to cost more than $100 million annually. Currently, federal agencies like the EPA create rules and regulations that have major economic impacts. The REINS Act ensures that new rules and regulations with a major price tag receive an up-or-down vote by the elected representatives of the American people.

“The federal government is out of control,” Gardner said. “Every day, unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington hand down an avalanche of costly new rules and regulations, sticking the American taxpayer with the bill. The REINS Act restores the system of checks and balances that our founders fought for.”

Also passing out of the House today was H.R. 2009, the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act, which would prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from implementing any part of the President’s healthcare law. The IRS is currently slated to have a role in nearly 50 different aspects of implementing and enforcing the healthcare law’s thousands of pages of rules and regulations. The House bill comes amid investigations into allegations that the IRS acted improperly in targeting certain political groups for extra scrutiny.

“My constituents are extremely concerned about the prospect of the IRS playing a part in their personal healthcare decisions. What’s worse is that you have an agency accused of improper behavior now in the conductor’s chair of the runaway train that is the healthcare law. This kind of government intrusion into the lives of citizens has no place in America.”

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