Praise for Bipartisan Passage of REINS Act to Bring Transparency & Accountability to Government Regulation

Press Release

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) today offered this statement on the successful passage of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS Act), H.R. 10, from the House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 241--184. The REINS Act, cosponsored by Issa, will help restore transparency and accountability to the federal regulatory process.

"The American people want the lights turned on in their government so they can see how decisions are being made. That pursuit of transparency extends to federal regulation," Representative Issa stated. "The REINS Act will restore much-needed openness and accountability to the heavy-handed regulatory process that inexcusably costs the American economy over one trillion dollars each year.

"Elected leaders should have to know the full cost government's bright ideas will pose on small businesses and job creators long before taxpayers are made to foot the bill. But today politicians are protected from taking ownership of bad government policies by a system that allows unelected federal bureaucrats to legislate anonymously from within government agencies. By requiring a rigorous public vetting process for regulations that pose a significant barrier to job creation, the REINS Act will impose quality control on government rule-making and empower American taxpayers with the ability to hold officials accountable.

"Maintaining the current broken regulatory process will do nothing to lift economic burdens from our private sector. When it comes to job-killing federal regulations, the buck should stop with the President and Congress. The REINS Act will see that it does."

The REINS Act will require every regulation proposed by a federal agency and scored with an economic impact of $100 million or more to go before the House of Representatives and Senate for an up-or-down vote. Without Congressional approval and the subsequent signature of the President, these "major rules" cannot be forced upon American job creators.

Now that it has passed through the House of Representatives, the REINS Act will proceed to the Senate for consideration.

Representative Issa is a champion for America's small business entrepreneurs and a proponent of broad federal regulatory reform through www.AmericanJobCreators.com. According to the government's own Small Business Administration, the United States Economy is sacrificing $1.75 trillion each year toward the cost of complying with government regulations. In addition, the Small Business Administration reports small businesses pay an average of $10,585 per employee to satisfy the requirements of federal regulators.

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