Brooks Votes to Block Harmful Regulations

Washington, D.C. – This afternoon, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) voted in favor of H.R. 3438, the Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act, to postpone any federal regulation imposing an annual cost of more than $1 billion until the judicial review process is complete, protecting Americans from being forced to comply with unlawful regulations.  Congressman Brooks is a cosponsor of the REVIEW Act which seeks to roll back the damage caused by the unparalleled expansion of the regulatory state by the Obama Administration.  

Congressman Brooks said, “Every week I hear from constituents who are struggling to breathe under the heavy weight of Washington red tape.  While federal regulations are not unique to the Obama Administration, since he took office in 2009, federal agencies have issued more than 20,000 regulations.  American workers know the havoc these regulations wreak on our struggling working class, consumers, and businesses.  The REVIEW Act will postpone these high-impact rules until judicial review is resolved.” 

Brooks added, “For emphasis, according to a Heritage Foundation study, the compliance burden for regulations from 43 new major rules in 2015 totaled $22 billion.[i]  The EPA’s Clean Power Plan rule alone has an annual compliance cost of $7.2 billion dollars.[ii]  What’s worse, former Energy Department Assistant Secretary Charles McConnell stated that the Clean Power Plan will, at best, reduce global temperature by a mere one one-hundredth of a degree Celsius.”

Brooks concluded, “The callousness of unelected rule makers in handing down onerous proclamations, without relevant industry understanding, is staggering.  The REVIEW Act is an important step in curtailing far-reaching federal regulations, and I was proud to support House passage.”