Newsletter - We Need a "Regulation Rewind"

Statement

As I travel through the Third District, Nebraskans often tell me about how their lives and their businesses are negatively impacted by unnecessary federal regulations. As your Representative, I work to help you cut the red tape which increasingly affects every part of our lives and economy.

New rules are being written everyday by Washington, D.C. bureaucrats. In 2013 alone, the Federal Register published more than 80,000 pages of newly proposed rules, regulations, and notices. While growth of the executive branch of government is nothing new, the Obama Administration has increasingly bypassed Congress and governed through the use of new rules and executive orders.

To fight back against this overreach of the federal government, I am launching a Regulation Rewind. Through this initiative and with your help, we will identify unnecessary and overly-burdensome regulations which hurt economic growth, limit opportunities for rural Americans, are inconsistent with the law, or are unfair. Because Washington continues to churn out new red tape, this project will be ongoing.

As we identify problematic regulations we will seek to find the appropriate solution. In some cases this will mean introducing legislation to repeal the regulation. We may choose to write agency heads or the President to help them understand the negative impact of new or proposed rules, or to question their authority. In other cases, we may be able to support an existing effort to address the regulation.

For example, Nebraskans recently contacted me because the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stated its intent to regulate small farms, even though this is specifically prohibited by law. In response, I helped organize a coalition of more than 80 Members of Congress from both parties to write the Department of Labor opposing the regulation of small farms and challenging the department's authority. Senator Johanns led a similar effort in the Senate. The department quickly changed course and has agreed to not regulate small farms.

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