Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time to me, and I thank our ranking member, again, for trying to work together.

Again, I respectfully support H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 2017. This is an issue that I have been working on since the 1990s in the State legislature. In fact, I was the author of house bill 66 when the Democrats controlled the Governorship, the House, the Senate, and the State legislature. I was able to pass the first unfunded mandates bill in the State of Texas.

This particular issue in Congress started in 1995 under the Clinton administration. Again, with a Republican Congress working together, the Congress passed the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in 1995.

This legislation was designed to prevent the Federal Government from imposing unfunded mandates on States and local governments, or private businesses, without policymakers or the public knowing the cost of such policies.

This legislation ensured public awareness of the financial burden of Federal mandates on small-business owners and on State and local governments. However, this unfunded mandates bill has not been amended since 1995, and some of those changes are necessary to preserve and improve the act's initial purpose.

This bill closes some of the loopholes by removing independent agency reporting exemptions, setting forth detailed assessment criteria, and allowing judicial review of agency assessments.

My district has a number of rural and underserved communities that need many resources. Imposing unfunded mandates on these kinds of communities makes life even more difficult for hardworking Americans to access basic needs, such as water infrastructure, sanitary water, and adequate living conditions.

Additionally, this bill requires that Federal agencies consult with the private sector when issuing regulations. What is wrong with consultation? Again, it allows recourse for companies, if agencies do not comply.

As a former small-business owner, I know the challenges of opening a business; the challenges of keeping a business open, including finding the resources and funds to get started; and how to keep a business running, especially on a tight budget.

Higher costs for these entrepreneurs make it more difficult for them to start and maintain a business, which means blunted economic growth for communities that need it the most, like the ones I represent in south Texas.

This bill restores and provides a framework to provide clarity to small business and local governments, and allows workers and entrepreneurs to freely pursue their dreams.

The bottom line is this: This bill will create more certainty for our Nation's businesses, including the small-business owners and the entrepreneurs who invest in the future, and allow more Americans to achieve the dream of business ownership.

I encourage my colleagues from both parties to support it.

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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chair, I thank Chairwoman Foxx for introducing this legislation and encourage both sides of the aisle to support it.

I understand this is a process. Hopefully, as we go along, after this bill passes, we will work this out in the Senate.

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