Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023
Floor Speech
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Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 277, the REINS Act, the largest regulatory reform bill in American history.
I know that sounds pretty major, but the REINS Act is actually a commonsense bill that would require every new major rule costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress before going into effect. I know that sounds radical to some, but actually, it is quite a bit of common sense.
This is a bill that every single Member of this body should support to rein in a largely unchecked bureaucracy that is undermining the role of the very body in which we have the honor to serve. Every single Member in this Chamber should honor and support government transparency, government accountability, and empowerment of their constituents.
Mr. Chair, I know that not everyone in Washington wants more power for the people. In fact, during his first 2 years in office, the President added more than $300 billion in new regulatory costs to the economy. That burden was left on the backs of we the American people.
Additionally, the American Action Forum found that new rules in his first 2 years of office required 193 million hours of compliance paperwork. Mr. Chair, 193 million hours to comply with new regulations from nameless, faceless bureaucrats who are accountable to no one, certainly not the American people.
To really drive home how wild government has grown under the Biden administration, think about this: Since the beginning of his time as President, Biden has added an average of 1,641 pages to the Federal Registry every single week. That is astonishing.
According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, regulations cost Americans $2 trillion every year in compliance costs, economic losses, and other expenses. Those costs are due to ever- increasing regulatory actions that lack proper accountability by Congress.
It is now time for Congress to reassert its role by placing new checks on the regulatory actions and the regulatory regime that negatively impact Americans in all walks of life across the country.
Our constituents deserve to have their voices heard and be able to hold those in the Federal Government making decisions that have impacts on their daily lives and businesses accountable. Under the ever-growing regulatory state, that is not the case. Rather, nameless, faceless bureaucrats are making decisions and creating new regulations that have impacts to our day-to-day lives.
In the case of this bill, these new regulations that have an impact of more than $100 million would be subject to coming back to Congress.
When I talk to my constituents about this bill, they cannot believe how vast the regulatory regime truly is. Members of this body who argue against this bill are, in fact, arguing against their own self-interest and the role of Congress in our political system.
In Federalist No. 51, James Madison states: ``Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.'' Right now, the ambitions of the executive branch down the street have far exceeded those of the regulatory branch. This has gone on for 100 years, regardless of the party that is in the White House.
When it comes to regulations, I quite frankly don't care who is in the White House. I will come down to this floor in this Chamber every single Congress and fight for this bill because we in Congress must do what the Founders of this Nation and the Framers of our Constitution expected us to do--provide a proper, equal check to the executive and judicial branches of the government.
Look no further than the Federal Register to determine the volume of regulations being proposed or finalized every single year. These are actions that Congress has no say in prior to going into effect and having the force of law. We are the lawmakers, not the folks down the street.
The current Congressional Review Act process to disapprove of administrative actions is after the fact, going after regulations and actions after they have gone into effect. It is a useful tool but one that is not particularly effective. It is inadequate to match the size of the administrative branch and the number of regulations that are being proposed and finalized.
Here are just a few examples of executive actions that could have been prevented if the REINS Act had been in effect: student loan forgiveness and loan repayment pauses, which could cost us in excess of $1 trillion; the Biden oil and gas lease sale ban; the unilateral increase in SNAP benefits through new agency standards that increase spending on the program by 25 percent, totaling more than $115 billion in 2022 alone; the expansion of subsidies for ObamaCare, costing more than $45 billion with a b, leaving people with less care, worse care that is, in fact, more expensive; new climate risk disclosure requirements for publicly traded companies, including the companies that they do business with, putting an undue administrative burden on small mom-and-pop shops. The list goes on and on.
Let us not forget the ridiculous Federal regulations like fines and fees for Good Samaritans who untangle whales from fishing nets.
One of the most ridiculous ones under title 21 of the U.S. Code makes it a Federal crime to sell spaghetti thicker than 0.11 inches in diameter. I couldn't believe it when I actually read this. It is a Federal crime.
When you start digging into the impact that that has, think about this, Americans consume, on average, 6 billion pounds of spaghetti a year. It is a $30 billion industry in the United States alone, and we have a regulation on the books to monitor the size of spaghetti, like we don't have anything better to do.
Some of these regulations sound silly, but I promise they have a very real impact. They drive up costs and ultimately cost us, the American people, money.
Recently, a nationwide poll was conducted in which Republicans, Democrats, and Independents from all across the country of all demographics were educated on the REINS Act and then asked their opinion on it. The majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all favored the REINS Act.
In fact, this poll found that more Democrats than Republicans were in favor of this policy. Seventy-two percent of Democrats were in favor, and 71 percent of Republicans were in favor of it. I sent this very poll to every single Republican and Democrat with a personalized letter before this debate here tonight.
There is no excuse for not knowing about this poll and the fact that their constituencies support more accountability and transparency in this Chamber. I just can't wrap my head around why, as a Member of Congress, you wouldn't want people in your district to be empowered to know that you are exercising your Article I authority as a Member of the people's House instead of playing partisan games and chasing political narratives that are nonexistent.
Just last week, I had a meeting with homebuilders from my district who were in town for their annual fly-in. In fact, 35 percent of the cost of new homes being built in Florida is due to regulations. That is insane. For first-time home buyers, you are now paying 35 percent more, not just because of inflation, not just because of a broken supply chain, but because of Federal regulations.
You can find examples in every single sector across this great country. That is why I encourage all of my colleagues to talk to local stakeholders and understand how regulations affect their constituents and impact the costs of goods, energy, services, heck, the cost of living. Talk to individuals in any sector, and they will tell you that there are burdensome regulations that are killing them.
It is our job to step in. You will hear the negative impact. You will understand that Congress did not explicitly approve these regulations.
That is why if you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or heck, just an American who believes in the rule of law, who believes in our Constitution and wants more transparency and accountability in the government, you will vote for this bill and support this bill.
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