WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today introduced his first bill of the new Congress – sweeping legislation to repair damage from the Obama administration’s legacy of overregulation which has harmed the nation’s struggling economy.
Roberts’ bill, the Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act (RREA), would require all federal agencies to review their significant regulations, and propose a timeline to repeal those deemed burdensome, unnecessary or those that harm the economy or job creation.
The RREA ensures that regulations put forth by the Executive branch consider the economic burden on American businesses, account for stakeholder input, and promote innovation.
“We must clean up the agenda-driven rule by regulation that was the hallmark of the Obama administration,” Roberts said. “The Senate Majority and the President-Elect are already hard at work identifying regulations that need to be revisited. My bill goes one step further and ensures no future administration can use the same techniques the Obama administration abused: curtailing public comment periods, using technologies like ‘Thunderclap’ to skew public comments in their favor, and the use of interim final rules and ‘regulatory guidance’.”
Audio from Senator Roberts below.
“Across Kansas, there is one refrain echoed by nearly all small business owners, farmers, ranchers, home builders, community bankers, doctors, and pharmacists – the overly burdensome and costly regulations from the Obama Administration hurt job creation, stifle growth, and generally make life more difficult on hard working Americans,” Senator Roberts said. “The federal government has overstepped its bounds, and it is time we rein in the bureaucrats and free the American entrepreneurial spirit from the death grip of the Obama regulators.”
Wayne Crews, Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, announced CEI’s support of the legislation saying, “When it comes to economic recovery, you don’t need to tell the grass to grow, you simply have to take the rocks off of it. And Senator Pat Roberts’ ‘Regulatory Responsibility for Our Economy Act’ would remove rocks from America’s economic lawn so it can flourish,” said CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews. “Federal red tape and over-regulation are crushing our economic health and well-being, and Senator Roberts’ Regulatory Responsibility Act is a step in the right direction that will boost cost assessments of new rules and require independent retrospective analysis of old ones. The Act would also enhance public participation in the regulatory process, limit agency overuse of difficult-to-challenge ‘interim final rules,’ and allow flexibility to reduce economic burdens.”
Under the RREA, the Administration would be required by law to review, modify, streamline, expand, or repeal any significant regulatory actions that are duplicative, unnecessary, burdensome, or would have significant economic impacts on Americans.
The bill also closes the loopholes the Obama administration has used to bypass stakeholder input on regulations, and allows for judicial review.
The Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act is also supported by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Blunt, Flake, Crapo, Rubio and Wicker.
Senator Roberts is an outspoken advocate for the elimination of ridiculous and burdensome regulations issued by the agenda driven Obama Administration. From the School Lunch Program to healthcare, Roberts has fought executive overreach and won. Roberts is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
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