[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026)]
[House]
[Page H4422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 GOVERNMENT IS TOO BIG, POWERFUL, AND UNACCOUNTABLE TO AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Mr. Knott of North Carolina was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government has been too big, 
powerful, and unaccountable to the American people for far too long. 
This is most clear in our Federal agencies, which have spent years 
acting as the investigator, prosecutor, and judge simultaneously and 
all without any accountability.
  Put plainly: If a Federal agency wishes to stop a particular project 
or activity, it may do so at any time without regard to the cost that 
such actions incur on the parties who are being stopped. All leverage 
and power rests with the regulator, and there is no real recourse for 
the regulated.
  This week, I introduced the Limiting Excessive Government Obstruction 
Act, also known as the LEGO Act, to stop this overreach. My bill is 
part of a broader effort to rein in the administrative state, to 
protect constitutional rights, and to eliminate the Federal bureaucracy 
that burdens so many Americans through restricting the creative genius 
that comes from real liberty.
  Right now, administrative enforcement cases start and end inside the 
very agencies that write and enforce the rules. Government officials 
decide both who to target and then sit as judges over those very 
people.
  Very few, except for specialized and expensive lawyers right here in 
Washington, D.C., have any idea of how to navigate a challenge to an 
agency action that halts a project.
  As an example, let's say a farmer is visited by the EPA and 
instructed to stop farming, simply because the EPA alleges that the 
farmer is violating a specific rule. Right now, the farmer cannot 
challenge the order to stop farming in a court of law down the street 
from his home. He cannot continue farming. His only recourse is to file 
a challenge here in Washington before a ``judge'' that is funded by the 
EPA.
  Before the challenge can be dismissed, the farmer must exhaust all 
administrative remedies before the EPA to show that the EPA overstepped 
its bounds. Not only is this unfair, but it can take years and cost 
millions of dollars.
  That is not how our government is supposed to work.
  Whether a farmer on their land or a local municipality building a 
bridge in a small town, we do not work at the mercy of a Federal agency 
or a nameless Federal bureaucrat.
  My bill changes this broken system by giving the regulated party the 
power to proceed quickly when stopped by a governing agency.
  To continue with my example, a farmer is stopped by the EPA for 
farming the exact same way that he has farmed for decades. Rather than 
having to wait on the EPA's timeline, my bill empowers the farmer to 
pursue the agency order in an Article III court in front of a jury of 
his peers and then continue on with their livelihood. There, the farmer 
can seek to dismiss the regulatory effort simply by showing reasonable 
compliance with the law and/or the subject regulation.
  The effects of this bill are all favorable:
  Regulated parties will no longer be bound by the whims of the 
regulators.
  Harmless and sound economic activity cannot be stopped by a whim.
  More certainty in economic activity and projects will increase 
efficiency and lower costs.
  The bill will compel the regulating agencies to focus only on 
unreasonable activity.
  The farmers, contractors, builders, and States will develop many more 
ways to design, build, and advance in a compliant and reasonable 
manner.

  Lastly and perhaps most importantly, it will restore the balance 
needed between the regulator and the regulated. If unreasonable 
activity is occurring, the government should be forced to prove it in 
an independent court, rather than a regulated party being forced to 
prove the government acted unreasonably in an agency forum.
  Mr. Speaker, the economic miracle that we have enjoyed in the United 
States was never achieved by a centrally controlled planning and 
regulatory force. The miracle of the United States' economy was 
conceived by private individuals and entities who had the freedom to 
build, experiment, farm, and progress in a system rooted in freedom.
  When the government can stop free people on a whim without any 
consideration of the cost, we will solidify the decline that so many of 
us in this country feel today.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve a government that works for, 
not against, them. It is time that we rein in the bureaucracy and 
eliminate excessive regulatory burdens imposed by our Federal 
Government.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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