CRAMER: Regulatory Accountability Act Positions Congress for Significant Regulatory Reform
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Kevin Cramer said a bill passed by the House of Representatives today further positions Congress for significant regulatory reform in the 115th Congress.
H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, combines six previously passed regulatory reform bills which lift unnecessary burdens on Americans and promote jobs, innovation, and economic growth.
“This new Congress is sending a strong message that significant and sweeping regulatory reform is a top priority. H.R. 5 brings increased transparency to the federal rule-making process. It is strong regulatory reform our nation badly needs after the record-setting 600 major regulations issued by the Obama Administration,” said Cramer.
“Federal regulations now impose an estimated burden of $1.89 trillion,” he said. “That is burying our job creators and costing each American household roughly $15,000. This is more than 10 percent of America’s gross domestic product, and more than the gross domestic product of all but eight countries in the world.“
The bipartisan action on H.R. 5 in the second week of the new session of Congress follows the House passing two other major regulatory relief bills last week. They are H.R. 21, the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2017 and H.R. 26, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2017.
Highlights of H.R. 5 include requiring agencies to choose the least costly option when issuing a new regulation, unless they can show a costlier option is needed to protect the public; requiring greater opportunity for public input and vetting of critical information and alternatives—especially for major and billion-dollar rules; repealing the Chevron and Auer doctrines to end judicial deference to bureaucrats’ statutory and regulatory interpretations; requiring agencies to account for the direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of new regulations on small businesses—and find flexible ways to reduce them; prohibiting new billion-dollar rules from taking effect until courts can resolve timely-filed litigation challenges; forcing agencies to publish online, timely information about regulations in development and their expected nature, costs and timing; and publishing plain-language, online summaries of new proposed rules, so the public can understand what agencies actually propose to do.
Cramer was a co-sponsor of two of the bills in H.R. 5 when they passed in the last Congress, H.R. 185, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2015 and H.R. 4768, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016. He voted for the others four bills, H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015; H.R. 3438, the REVIEW Act of 2016; H.R. 1759, the All Economic Regulations are Transparent (ALERT) Act of 2015 and H.R. 690, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act.