Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding time and for the leadership he has provided in getting this bill passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Mr. Chairman, we are going to probably have to say this many times today, but our colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to make this an antiregulation bill. We are not opposed to regulations on our side of the aisle. We are in favor of commonsense rules.

Mr. Chairman, each year, Washington imposes thousands of pages of rules and regulations on America's private sector employers, as well as State and local governments. Buried in those pages are costly Federal mandates that make it harder for businesses to hire and cash-strapped States, counties, and cities to serve their citizens.

As a former State senator, I can testify to the difficulty of balancing the State's budget when there are dozens of complicated, mostly unfunded Federal mandates that must be taken into account.

As a former small business owner, I understand firsthand the concerns that job creators have about how lengthy, confusing rules affect their ability to conduct business and provide jobs and opportunities to their employees.

That is why I introduced H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, which we call UMITA, and am proud to see it brought before the House for consideration.

The bill builds upon the bipartisan 1995 Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, also known as UMRA, and will ensure awareness and public disclosure of the cost in dollars and jobs that Federal dictates pose to the economy and local governments.

H.R. 50 does not seek to prevent the Federal Government from regulating; rather, it seeks to ensure that its regulations are deliberative and economically defensible. Asking regulators to consider thoroughly and understand the cost of a rule in addition to its benefits should not be controversial. It is just plain common sense.

Regulators and legislators should know exactly what they are asking the American people to pay and whether the costs of compliance might make it harder for family businesses to meet payroll and stay afloat. No government body, on purpose or accidentally, should skirt public scrutiny when jobs and scarce resources are at stake.

In the nearly 20 years since UMRA's passage, weaknesses in the law have been revealed, weaknesses that some government agencies and independent regulatory bodies have exploited. UMITA makes independent regulatory agencies subject to UMRA's requirements, ending a two-tier system that allowed regulations to be implemented without the required consideration, scrutiny, or public input.

H.R. 50 recognizes that the Federal Government's reach extends well beyond the taxes it collects and the money it spends. Regulations can advance government initiatives without using tax dollars.

Rather than count expenses for new programs, the government can require the private sector, as well as State and local governments, to pay for Federal initiatives through compliance costs. This bill shines much-needed light on the murky regulatory process and ensures the public has transparent access to proposed rules and regulations.

Both Democrats and Republicans recognize that appropriate regulations don't need to be issued in the dead of night or negotiated behind closed doors. That is why the House has considered and passed this bill three times in the 112th and 113th Congresses.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this commonsense, bipartisan bill.

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