Senate Working to Protect Americans from Harmful Obama Regulations
‘This regulation has little to do with improving current policy. Instead, it really just represents another power grab rushed through by the Obama Administration on its way out the door. Like several other regulations we’re working to address, this one adopts a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach. It shifts power away from state and local governments toward Washington bureaucrats.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on Senate floor today regarding another heavy-handed Obama regulation:
“For the past eight years, Americans felt left behind by an economy that failed to live up to its potential, a job market that left too many behind, and a future that didn’t seem as bright as it once had. For too long, the previous administration pursued an agenda that put Washington’s interests above the peoples’ interests and regulations that too often followed ideology rather than facts.
“In fact, as we recently saw cited in a national paper, one study ‘estimates that the costs of complying with federal rules and regulations totaled nearly $1.9 trillion in 2015, equal to about half the federal budget.’ And yet another study ‘estimates that regulation has shaved 0.8 percent off the U.S. annual growth rate…’ — a growth rate that was already too slow to begin with.
“So you can see the effect that heavy-handed regulations can have on our nation’s economy. It’s no question that some regulations are necessary, and even beneficial to our country, but Washington should assess the real impact regulations will have before implementing them. Undoing the damage of the past several years is going to take some time, but fortunately there are meaningful steps we’ve already begun taking to bring relief.
“Just last night we took another step, by blocking a sweeping labor regulation that would have threatened American businesses, workers, and taxpayers at large. Today we’ll keep working to dial back even more harmful regulations, like the one before us now — the so-called ‘BLM Planning 2.0 Rule.’
“Don’t let the name fool you: This regulation has little to do with improving current policy. Instead, it really just represents another power grab rushed through by the Obama Administration on its way out the door. Like several other regulations we’re working to address, this one adopts a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach. It shifts power away from state and local governments toward Washington bureaucrats. And it targets Western states specifically, jeopardizing their ability to manage the land and resources that their local economies count on.
“As Sen. Murkowski, Chair of the Energy Committee, has pointed out, this regulation could negatively impact a range of activities like grazing, timber, energy and mineral development and other important uses of public lands that states like hers rely on. And, perhaps even more troubling, it would also limit input from local stakeholders who are most familiar with these issues. That’s why Sen. Murkowski has been fighting the BLM 2.0 regulation from the start and has introduced legislation under the Congressional Review Act to overturn it.
“Later today we’ll have the opportunity to vote on a similar resolution, which already passed the House. It’s another important step in our efforts to return power to the states and knock down barriers that keep our economy from growing.”
Related Issues: Regulations, Congressional Review Act
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