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All Economic Regulations are Transparent Act of 2014

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 26, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Operations

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Madam Chair, I want to thank the chairman of the committee for working with us today.

I rise in support of H.R. 2804, the ALERRT Act. This legislation represents a very important effort to bring some common sense and transparency to an out-of-control regulatory process that is stifling job growth, especially among small businesses.

I am especially pleased that legislation which the Committee on Small Business worked on, H.R. 2542, the

Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, was incorporated into the ALERRT Act. Again, I want to thank Chairman Goodlatte for working with the committee on the title of this bill.

For over 30 years, agencies have been required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act, or RFA, to examine the impacts of regulations on small businesses. If those impacts are significant, agencies must consider less burdensome alternatives. The problem is that agencies still fail to comply with that law, and the result is unworkable regulations that put unnecessary burdens on America's best job creators, which are small businesses.

In numerous hearings over the years, the Small Business Committee has heard about the consequences that burdensome regulations have on farmers, homebuilders, manufacturers, and many others. Instead of using their limited resources to grow and create jobs, small businesses have to spend more time and money on regulatory compliance and paperwork.

The Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act is going to eliminate loopholes that agencies have used to avoid compliance with the RFA. Most importantly, it requires agencies to generally scrutinize the impacts of regulations on small businesses before they are finalized.

Examining whether there are less burdensome or less costly ways to implement a regulation just makes common sense. Reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens frees up scarce time, money, and resources that small businesses can use to expand their operations and hire new employees.

The Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act is bipartisan legislation. It has strong support among the business communities. It simply requires agencies to do their homework before they regulate. If agencies do their work, more Americans are going to be working.

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