The Forgotten Jobs Bills

Statement

What's holding up jobs? Over the past several weeks, my colleagues and I in the House have taken action to pass legislation that encourages job creation in America. As unemployment remains stuck at over 9 percent, 17 House-passed bipartisan jobs bills are also stuck in the Senate.

One of these is my bill, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2250), which passed the House with the support of 41 Democrats earlier this month. Already, 12 Democrats and 26 Republicans have signed on in support of companion legislation in the Senate. This legislation provides a much-needed regulatory fix to the current Boiler MACT rules that impact businesses, schools, and hospitals. According to a recent study, these rules could potentially put as many as 230,000 jobs nationwide at risk and 10,000 jobs at risk in Virginia alone.

A variety of other House-passed bills are also awaiting Senate action, including legislation to jumpstart domestic and offshore exploration of oil and natural gas resources (H.R. 1230/H.R. 2021), legislation to expand the safe transport of Canadian oil sands to the U.S. (H.R. 1938), and regulatory relief for America's cement producers (H.R. 2681), just to name a few. Ignored by the Senate, these forgotten jobs bills would protect existing American jobs and spark the creation of new jobs at home. Many of these bills have the added bonus of reducing our dependence on OPEC by emphasizing the use of North American energy resources.

I urge the Senate to take action soon on H.R. 2250 and the other House-passed jobs bills. The American people should not have to, and frankly cannot, wait any longer for the Senate to get in the game.

Letting the Dust Settle

Last week, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing on farm dust regulations. Believe it or not, farm dust is another thing that could potentially be on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation radar. In fairness, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said that EPA does not intend to regulate farm dust "at this time," but many are concerned that future lawsuits or uncertainty in the rule-making process could change the circumstances.

In rural areas and farming communities, you can't help but kick up a little dust when driving down unpaved roads or plowing a field. Tightening the regulation of farm dust would be another unnecessary and excessive regulation that could negatively impact American farmers. States are already forced to comply with EPA's farm dust standards as part of their State Implementation Plans (SIPs). While I'm not aware of any incidences of formal citations or fines because of excessive farm dust, I have heard of a Virginia state regulator issuing a warning because of too much dust coming off a dirt road. Hmmm.

We continue to often see EPA lacking in good common sense, but I hope new regulations on farm dust won't be part of their decision making any time soon.

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