Regulation Nation
“And finally, today I am directing federal agencies to do more to account for—and reduce—the burdens regulations may place on small businesses. Small firms drive growth and create most new jobs in this country. We need to make sure nothing stands in their way.”
—President Obama, Wall Street Journal op-ed, January 18, 2011
The effect of the Obama Regulatory Regime on American businesses, in their own words:
- John Mackey, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Whole Foods Market—“In some cases, regulations have gone too far and it really makes it difficult for small businesses. There’s too much bureaucracy and red tape; taxes on business are very high. So we’re not creating the enabling conditions that allow businesses to get started.”
- David Park, President and CEO, Austin Capital, LLC—“Regulations have companies running scared. They are coming at businesses and some new regulations are already taking a toll, while others will soon. This could be a real deterrent to future entrepreneurs.”
- Michael Whalen, President and CEO, Heart of America Group—“The question needs to be reframed in Washington. Not what do we need to do to get more jobs created, but how do we insure we are not stopping jobs from being created!”
- John Allison, Former Chairman and CEO, BB&T Corporation—“We need to reduce the regulatory burden, regulations have reduced our productivity and made it more difficult for businesses to create the type of products that improve the quality of our lives and have the incentive to employ more people.”
- William Johnson, CEO, Progress Energy—“[New environmental rules and compliance deadlines] is a recipe for inefficiency, system reliability challenges and unnecessarily high cost.”
- Andrew Puzder, CEO, PKE Restaurants—“Government just doesn’t understand how much uncertainty it creates in the economy when it attempts to regulate what the private sector does. And it really doesn’t understand what the private sector does.”
- Tom Deas, Treasurer, FMC Corp. and President, National Assn of Corporate Treasurers—“Any uncertainty about the future environment is one more hurdle to get over for a company to make a decision to invest and grow their business and ultimately sustain and grow jobs.”
What are House Republicans doing?
House Republicans are focused on continuing efforts to turn around the Obama economy by passing major elements of the House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. In addition to those items awaiting action by the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House, one of the agenda items scheduled to be considered in the House is the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, introduced by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY). This legislation would restore Congressional accountability for the regulatory process requiring Congress to take an up-or-down, stand-alone vote, and for the President to sign-off on all new major rules—those with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more—before they can be enforced on job-creating small businesses or State and local governments.
For additional information, contact:
The House Republican Conference Policy Office
