[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5052]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REGULATE THE REGULATORS--THE REINS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. The regulators continue their reign of regulation 
terror on businesses across America.
  Jerry McKinney, from Crosby, Texas, wrote me this:

       I work in the industrial chemical business and I see the 
     result of government regulations like those from the EPA. 
     These cost my company good money, with no positive effects.

  Larry, a doctor from Kingwood, Texas, said this to me:

       Small businesses need relief from the ridiculous OSHA 
     standards. Our veterinary practice is having to spend hours 
     and money trying to decipher all the regulations some 
     bureaucrat has dreamed up to justify his job.

  Madam Speaker, the fourth branch of government meddles in every 
aspect of our lives. In the name of saving us from ourselves, the 
regulators regulate, regulate, and when they're through, they regulate 
some more, without regard to the consequences of these expensive 
government mandates. Sometimes they put businesses out of business 
because of their regulations.
  Dana, from southeast Texas, writes me this:

       I owned a business--bought a bowling center, my dream job, 
     in 2007. Was totally unprepared for the amount of regulation 
     and fees and taxes. I employed 32 people. I went bankrupt in 
     October of 2012 because of this. I have the drive and desire 
     and a great business plan for a new business that would 
     employ 20 to 30 people, but I'm not sure I want to dive back 
     into all this.

  Michael, from Houston, said:

       Where should I begin? Real estate market is flooded with, 
     yes, new regulations. It seems that banks are prevented from 
     foreclosing on homeowners who are basically living in the 
     house for free for several years.

  Susan, a small business owner in Texas, says this:

       Our small business has operated on a shoestring for several 
     years, and we started way back in 1978, but I fear we are at 
     an end. We manufacture 400 products, all made from the same 
     materials. But the new product safety regulations require we 
     certify every product to the tune of about $500 per product, 
     even though they're all made from the same materials. Do the 
     math: $175,000 or more just to get these same products that 
     we've been making since 1978 certified by the Federal 
     Government. Add on the health care fines and the rising cost 
     of gasoline and the rising property and sales taxes and 
     income taxes--well, you know the rest of the story.

  Madam Speaker, this ought not to be--regulators putting businesses 
out of business by dreaming up new, sometimes silly rules that don't 
solve any problem. The regulators dream up new rules to add to their 
100,000 commandments every day.
  Regulators regulate. That's what they do. That's what they like to 
do. But their addiction to power and to new, unnecessary rules must 
stop. Burdensome, expensive Federal regulations cost $2 trillion a 
year. What does that mean? That's the same amount of money all American 
citizens and corporations paid in income tax in 2008--$2 trillion. A 
lot of money.
  Regulators have no concept of the cost of running a business. They 
don't even understand the rules and business costs that can put some 
American businesses out of business. So Congress should approve any 
regulation that reaches a certain cost threshold or has a significant 
economic impact. That's why I'm an original cosponsor of the REINS Act. 
The REINS Act requires Congress, the elected, to approve the expensive 
rules of the unelected or the rules will not take effect. If a new rule 
affects the economy in the United States over $100 million throughout 
the country, Congress must approve this new rule or it does not take 
effect by the rulemakers.
  We should make new rules for the rulemakers. That's what our 
responsibility is. So it's time for Congress to rein in the out-of-
control government and start regulating regulators.
  And that's just the way it is.

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