Providing for Consideration of H.R. Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Separation of Powers Restoration Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Save Our Gas Stoves Act, and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from the great State of Kentucky for yielding me time.

I rise in strong support of this rule which would provide for consideration of my bill, the REINS Act of 2023.

The REINS Act would address regulatory actions by requiring every new major rule or regulation that is $100 million or more to an industry, proposed by Federal agencies, to be approved by Congress before going into effect. Specifically, the House and Senate would be required to pass a joint resolution in order for a major rule to be approved by Congress.

During his first 2 years in office, the President added more than $400 billion in new regulatory costs to our economy. The American Action Forum found that the new rules in his first 2 years required 193 million hours of compliance paperwork. That is 193 million hours to comply with new regulations from nameless, faceless bureaucrats who are accountable to no one.

According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, regulations cost Americans $2 trillion a year in compliance costs, economic losses, and other expenses, Mr. Speaker. These costs are due to the ever-increasing regulatory actions that lack proper accountability by Congress. It is beyond time for Congress to reassert its role by placing new checks on regulatory actions that negatively impact Americans from all walks of life.

The core question that we have to ask ourselves is this: Where is the lawmaking authority vested within our Nation? Further, what is the primary principle that our system requires to function?

I can give you a hint, but I am sure you know the answer, Mr. Speaker. It is here.

The argument that I hear from my colleagues on the left is that this bill would eliminate the expertise that these nameless, faceless bureaucrats bring. However, I have spoken to thousands of businessowners, industry experts, who are continually having to navigate the regulatory regime at the hands of bureaucrats who have never once worked a day in the private sector, never once having worked a day on any of their operations.

This bill does nothing to eliminate expertise within the executive branch. What it does do is give proper oversight authority to Congress, specifically through the regulatory process. Those who argue against this bill are quite literally arguing against their own self-interests, against their role as Representatives of we, the people.

James Madison stated in Federalist 51 that ``Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.'' Right now, the ambitions of the executive branch have trumped those of the legislative branch. This has gone on for nearly 100 years, regardless of who is in charge of the White House.

What a poor and pathetic condition we are in if we as Members of the people's House, the House of Representatives, cannot even stand up for the institution in which we serve, that we swore an oath to serve.

Quite frankly, I don't care what party holds the Presidency. I will come down to this floor every single Congress and fight for this bill and fight for we, the people, because this bill, at the end of the day, is about empowering the people, protecting the people from the real swamp, the nameless, faceless bureaucrats who dwell in basements all over Washington, D.C.

We, in Congress, must do what the Founders of this Nation and the Framers of our Constitution expected of us to do, which is to provide a proper, real, equal check to the executive and judicial branches.

I know my friends on the other side of the aisle feel the same as me. I hope that one day politics will allow all of us in Congress to make our Founders proud and jealously guard our legislative authority with all the might that we can muster.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues, regardless of party affiliation, to support the REINS Act and support your folks back home. Let's reassert our Article I authority and support this rule.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source