[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6560-H6561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SUFFOCATING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Hurt) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HURT. Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of 
Virginia's Fifth District, on behalf of the small business owners and 
farmers across central and southside Virginia who have been directly 
negatively impacted by the suffocating government regulatory 
environment.
  These good people have been so overburdened by an overreaching 
government that they are left struggling to make ends meet in these 
challenging economic times, unable to expand their businesses and 
discouraged from starting new ones. Over the past 2 months, I have 
traveled through the Fifth District, making stops from Green County to 
Danville, from Martinsville to Brunswick County. I heard from 
constituents about the very real effects that unnecessary government 
regulations are having on their businesses and their lives.
  Just this last week, I visited with a convenience store owner in 
Campbell County who has five stores and 48 employees. He has the desire 
and the resources to expand and build two more convenience stores, 
creating more jobs in the area, but he reports that he is unwilling to 
do so because of the mandates and taxes that will be imposed on his 
business as a part of the job-destroying government takeover of health 
care.
  Last week I also visited with an owner of an auto repair shop in 
Appomattox. He told me that he first started his business back in 1987. 
Back then, he was able to get his business up and running in one day. 
One day was all it took for him to obtain all of the required permits 
and licenses and pay all of the required taxes and fees. After running 
his shop for a number of years, he then moved on to another job. Then 
just recently in 2011, he decided he wanted to reopen his shop and 
found that instead of taking one day to wade through the regulatory 
redtape, this year it took him 5 months.

[[Page H6561]]

  If the President and the United States Senate want to know why our 
economy isn't growing, this is why. These are the real life 
implications for Fifth District Virginians and all Americans created by 
the regulatory agenda that has been put in place by this administration 
and the last Congress over the past 2 years. These added costs 
jeopardize the success of our small businesses and destroy jobs. The 
added uncertainty crushes the entrepreneurial spirit and stalls 
economic growth. And the added expansion of the Federal Government 
strips away our freedoms and our opportunities.
  So when a diner owner in Farmville tells me that Washington is taking 
the breath away from the American people, this is what she's talking 
about, an ever-growing government that stands as a barrier between a 
struggling economy and a growing, vibrant economy that we all 
desperately want.
  So as the House continues to lead the way and works to reduce 
unnecessary regulations, it is my hope that we will keep in mind the 
convenience store owners, the auto repair shop owners, and all of the 
small businesses and farmers who are relying on us to get this right, 
who are relying on us to support those policies that remove the Federal 
Government as a roadblock to job creation and return our economic 
recovery back where it belongs--in the hands of the people.

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