[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 30 (Monday, March 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNFUNDED MANDATES INFORMATION AND TRANSPARENCY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, every year Washington imposes thousands of 
pages of rules and regulations on small businesses and local 
governments across this country. Hidden in those pages are costly 
mandates that make it harder for companies to hire and for cash-
strapped States, counties, and cities to keep streets clean and parks 
safe.
  Republicans and Democrats alike agree that each regulation the 
Federal Government dictates should be deliberative and economically 
defensible. That is why I've banded together with Democrats Loretta 
Sanchez, Mike McIntyre, and Collin Peterson and Republican James 
Lankford to introduce H.R. 899, the Unfunded Mandates Information and 
Transparency Act. This legislation will ensure a public and 
bureaucratic awareness about the cost, in dollars and in jobs, that 
Federal dictates pose to the economy and to local governments.
  There is precedent for bipartisanship on this issue. In 1995, Members 
from both parties got behind, and President Clinton signed, the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA), which sought to expose 
Washington's abuse of unfunded Federal mandates. By forcing the Federal 
Government to estimate how much its mandates would cost local 
governments and employers, regulation would necessarily become better 
and more efficient for everyone involved. And it has, to a certain 
extent.
  But over the years, weaknesses in the original legislation have been 
revealed, weaknesses that some government agencies and independent 
regulatory bodies have exploited. The Unfunded Mandates Information and 
Transparency Act will correct these oversights and put some weight 
behind UMRA to ensure no government body, purposely or accidentally, 
skirts public scrutiny when jobs and scarce resources are at stake.
  The spirit of the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act 
and its underlying principle, that the American people would be better 
served by a government that regulates only with the best information, 
is truly bipartisan.
  Lawmakers and unelected regulators should know the price of their 
dictates. So, too, should the people, private enterprises, and 
governments, all of whom are being asked to foot the bill.
  Funds are very tight for families across this country. Millions of 
Americans remain unemployed, and many more still rely on small 
businesses and local governments for jobs, health care, public safety, 
and education. Washington should think carefully before it decrees 
mandates that could siphon from the limited dollars governments and 
private sector job creators use to keep people employed and localities 
functioning. But as loopholes within the original UMRA legislation have 
revealed, Federal mandates are not universally preceded by 
thoughtfulness. The Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act 
we have introduced will require that from government.

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