[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                GOVERNMENT IS TOO BIG AND COSTS TOO MUCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Brady] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BRADY. Mr. Speaker, working Americans often ask today, ``Why 
can't we make ends meet like our parents did? Why does it take a two-
income family to provide even a basic quality of life for our 
families?''
  President Ronald Reagan had a clear answer. Government is too big and 
costs too much. I would add that today we also have a government that 
regulates too much. Excessive regulation is a hidden tax on families 
and on our businesses. Compliance costs are estimated to be $6,000 for 
each American household, $6,000 in costs in regulation for American 
households.
  If you couple taxes, if you add to it regulations, the average 
American worker is working until July 9 to pay all the costs associated 
with government. Excessive regulation crushes small business, the 
engine of our job creation, and today one of the most pervasive fears 
among America's small businessmen is that they will fail to comply with 
some obscure government regulation and be forced to shut down.
  In 1995, President Clinton convened a conference on small business, 
asked them to meet in our capital. More than 1,600 attended. The No. 1 
concern that they registered, they were overregulated and had too much 
government paperwork to comply with.
  According to our Small Business Administration, the cost of 
regulation, of paperwork and of tax law compliance is about $5,000 per 
worker. It is even greater for smaller firms. Regulation puts a brake 
on our small business job creation, it puts a brake on the 
entrepreneurial spirit which is the promise of America.
  An example of unnecessary regulation, as Congressman Shimkus just 
described, are the new proposed EPA air quality regulations that Carol 
Browner recently announced. They deal with ozone and particulate 
matter, and if adopted, these stricter standards mean that many 
communities that meet existing standards will be redesignated as 
nonattainment areas. Other communities who spent millions to control 
these types of pollution will be told they must now do it another way. 
It has no scientific basis, it has questionable benefits. The 
regulations though will have a dramatic impact on our families in 
Texas, where I live, and across America.
  This new regulatory burden is an unproven, untested science 
experiment based on the premise that if an apple a day is good for you, 
then a bushel a day must be better.
  Regulations have good intent, everyone supports clean air and clean 
water. Everything looks good on paper, but it is how it works in real 
life that affects you and I. The answer is to move the Federal 
Government closer to the customers they have served to initiate a cost-
benefit analysis so we know what this costs, ensure that regulatory 
actions are based on sound science that we agree upon, that we have a 
budget within regulation that puts a ceiling on the cost of regulation 
to the American economy, and we have to initiate sunset review. That 
means put an expiration date on every regulation, on every program, on 
every agency, commission, and council, where they go out of existence 
unless they can prove their value and their worth to us today.
  The bottom line is that American families and American businesses 
need a break from our Federal Government. We should restore common 
sense to our Government and remove the barriers to free enterprise and 
job creation. We have that opportunity in this session, and we need to 
take advantage of it.

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