Capitol Report: SCRUB Act will Fight Job Killing Regulations

Nothing kills jobs and hurts our economy in rural Missouri more than regulations from bureaucrats in Washington. With each passing day federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor create more and more rules that are forced on individuals, small business owners and farmers who are struggling to make ends meet. At a time when our economy needs to grow, regulations are holding back innovation and the American entrepreneurial spirit.

Too much burdensome and invasive regulation means higher prices, lower wages, and fewer jobs for hardworking Americans, as well as less American economic growth. Federal regulations now impose an estimated burden of $1.86 trillion. That equals roughly $15,000 per U.S. household and 11.5% of America’s 2012 GDP. It is more than $300 billion higher than combined individual and corporate federal income taxes and equivalent to 85 percent of U.S. corporate profits in 2013. As of the end of 2013, the Code of Federal Regulations contained a massive 175,000 pages of regulations in 235 volumes. Surely, many of these regulations can be repealed to lower costs to American workers and American job creators.

This week I filed legislation to fight the intrusive federal regulations that are holding back private sector job creation and economic growth. My bill, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2014, or SCRUB Act, is designed to identify and eliminate outdated and ineffective regulations. The legislation put a bipartisan, commission in place to review regulations and make recommendations for repeal. The commission would have a goal of reducing at least 15% in cumulative costs of all federal regulations. I am happy to report that the SCRUB Act was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee this week and I am now working to get the legislation on the House floor for a final vote.

Our Eighth Congressional District and all of rural America are under a regulatory attack from Washington bureaucrats. The EPA, Department of Labor and other beltway bureaucrats are trying to regulate everything from how we generate power, to kids helping out on the family farm. News reports always talk about the divide between Republicans and Democrats but there is an equal divide in Washington between rural and urban interests. The SCRUB Act will help protect rural America from intrusive regulations that are hurting our rural way of life and holding back private sector job growth.

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