Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.

I rise against the underlying bill.

Mr. Chairman, we have heard a lot about job growth. We just want to
remind people that our economy has experienced job growth in excess of
200,000 for 11 consecutive months, a record that hadn't been seen since
the Clinton administration, and 58 consecutive months of private sector
job growth, a string that hasn't been seen in recorded history.

So, continued economic growth and strong regulatory protections are
not mutually exclusive. In fact, regulations are often necessary to
protect the investments the American taxpayer makes in our economy and
to ensure stability, order, and safety inside and outside of the
workplace.

Unfortunately, this legislation will impose unnecessary burdens and
delays on agencies seeking to issue or improve rules and regulations,
burdensome delays that can threaten taxpayer dollars and the lives and
health of workers.

Mr. Chairman, I offered two amendments that would have improved the
bill, but neither was accepted by the Rules Committee. The first would
have insured that inspector general recommendations would not be
subject to the potentially dangerous delays and extra hurdles found in
the bill.

Inspectors general are taxpayers' independent watchdogs who
investigate and seek out problems and inefficiencies in our government.
For example, two alarming audits issued last year by the Department of
Education's inspector general found that criminal fraud rings were
preying on money available through distance learning programs and that
expensive, bank-sponsored debit cards were used to perpetuate waste,
fraud, and abuse in the financial aid program.

Fortunately, in both of these situations the inspector general urged
the Department of Education to quickly issue new rules to ensure that
billions of dollars aren't wasted.

Unfortunately, without my amendment, this bill would deeply impair
the ability of the Department of Education and other agencies to
address similar known abuses of taxpayers' funds.

Delays in inspector general recommendations can also threaten the
lives and health of workers. For example, the Department of Labor's
inspector general found that the Mine Safety and Health Administration
had a regulatory gap that allowed mine operators who habitually
violated mine safety standards to easily avoid sanctions and continue
to operate unsafe mines.

The unfortunate consequence of these loopholes was seen at the Upper
Big Branch mine in West Virginia, where 29 mine workers were killed in
the largest coal mine disaster in the United States in 40 years.

Following that disaster, the inspector general recommended fixes that
would close these loopholes, and the administration quickly adopted new
regulations that are estimated to prevent about 1,800 miner injuries
every 10 years. Had this bill been in effect, these regulations might
not have ever been adopted in a timely manner.

My second amendment, Mr. Chairman, would have also strengthened
protections of workers' health and safety. The amendment would have
exempted regulations or guidance proposed by the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration to prevent health care workers from
contracting infectious diseases.

As it stands, the legislation could possibly delay OSHA's workforce
protections and make it far more difficult for OSHA to prevent health
care workers from contracting lethal infectious diseases.

Under current regulations that govern OSHA's rulemaking, it takes
OSHA an average of 7 years to issue standards, and this bill could add
another 3 years, possibly delaying and essentially shutting down OSHA's
ability to issue rules altogether.

Mr. Chairman, this legislation will seriously compromise the ability
of agencies to protect both taxpayers and workers, so I urge my
colleagues to oppose the legislation.

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