[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 5963-5964]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE CONGRESS

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, with the media and others looking at the 
first 100 days or so of this new administration, and looking at this 
new Congress and the Republican majority, I think it bears reflecting 
on the last couple of months in the Congress under the new Trump 
administration and looking at some of the accomplishments that have 
been made on behalf of the American economy and the American people.
  We are committed to helping job creators do what they do best; that 
is, innovate, create more jobs, and employ more people, and not force 
those same job creators to waste time dealing with onerous rules and 
regulations that bear no relationship to public safety. With a like-
minded President, we have been able to deliver some real relief to the 
American people.
  One of the ways we have been able to do that is through a mechanism 
known as the Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act was 
created to give Congress an opportunity to do away with regulations 
with which it disagrees. It allows Congress to act as a real check.

[[Page 5964]]

  The problem with regulations is, it is really a substitute for 
lawmaking. Of course, when Congress acts and passes laws, the President 
signs them, and then we are held accountable by the voters for the laws 
we pass. That is not so when it comes to the bureaucracy that writes 
regulations. Bureaucrats don't stand for election. Bureaucrats are not 
accountable to the people. So that is why it is really important for us 
to have a mechanism like the Congressional Review Act to act as a check 
on runaway regulation.
  By using this mechanism, the Congressional Review Act, with an ally 
in the White House, we have started undoing some of the thousands of 
burdensome rules and regulations created by the Obama administration--
rules and regulations that add up to a hefty pricetag for our country. 
By one estimate, the costs of these Obama-era regulations add up to 
more than $1 trillion. That is a tremendous wet blanket on the American 
economy. If the job creators have to pay somebody to help them comply 
with these onerous rules and regulations, they obviously are not paying 
somebody to grow their business and to be productive. By one estimate, 
the cost of these Obama regulations adds up to more than $1 trillion 
and more than 700 million hours of paperwork, but fortunately we have 
been able to chip away at them by working with the White House and 
focusing on bringing regulatory relief to the American people.
  Here is the tally so far. So far, we have been able to save the 
American economy $636 billion worth of regulatory relief. That adds up 
to 52 million hours of compliance time. Again, when somebody is busy 
complying with busy work mandated by a micromanaging Federal 
bureaucracy, they are not doing productive work.
  Now, some of these rules and regulations are things that we may not 
read or hear about in the headlines or the evening news--things like 
the stream buffer rule, the Bureau of Land Management planning rule, 
and the Securities and Exchange Commission resource extraction rule. 
These are not well-known rules and regulations, but they have a real 
cost on the American economy. There is a real reason why, after the 
great recession of 2008, our economy has been bouncing along at about 2 
percent real growth. That is not enough growth to keep hiring people as 
they come of age and become eligible to work in the workforce. We need 
the economy to grow faster, and one of the ways to do that is to 
relieve businesses and the economy of those overly onerous regulations.
  As I was thinking about it, I think what has happened to our economy 
is, it has died a death of 1,000 cuts. Each of these regulations, while 
they seem rather innocuous, in and of themselves, or people don't know 
about them, have actually accumulated to cause real damage to the 
American economy. So we have been able to help those small businesses 
that would like to hire more people to do productive work, to grow the 
economy, and to help pay their employees better wages. We have helped 
them by repealing these regulations to help our job creators and not 
hurt them.
  This has always been, to me, the mystery of Washington, DC. Back home 
in Texas, we look at the job creator as a positive influence on our 
economy, as somebody who is going to be creating a real opportunity for 
someone to find productive work and to pursue their dreams, but here in 
Washington so often the opposite seems to be true. It almost seemed 
like the attitude, particularly of the previous administration, was, 
What other obstacles can we put in the way of businesses? What other 
burdens can we impose upon the economy in the name of trying to 
micromanage the economy from Washington, DC? Well, I think what we have 
seen--the evidence is pretty clear--is anemic growth, and that is 
something we need to roll back, along with these rules and regulations.
  I am hopeful the President will be signing more of these 
Congressional Review Act initiatives soon. So far, he has signed 13 of 
them, and we have more in the queue.
  As we look ahead to big-ticket items we all want to make progress on, 
I am committed to continuing to work with all of our colleagues and the 
administration in doing all we can to help small businesses, family 
farmers, and entrepreneurs spend more time doing productive work and 
less time doing busy work mandated by the bureaucrats here in 
Washington, DC.
  One of those big-ticket items is tax reform. We have seen some big 
ideas floated out there by the House of Representatives and last night 
and today by the President and his Cabinet as well. I look forward to 
reviewing the proposal the President has made.
  There is no question there is a lot of room for reforming our Tax 
Code. Our Tax Code is literally a self-inflicted wound which damages 
our economy. We have trillions of dollars earned by American-based 
businesses earned overseas that they will not bring back because they 
don't want to be taxed twice on that money. We know our Tax Code is way 
too complicated. It is riddled with loopholes, inconsistencies, and 
provisions that impede job creation. Pro-growth tax reform should be 
our goal. It is something that has united Republicans and Democrats in 
the past, and there is no reason we shouldn't be united again in 
accomplishing that tax reform.
  So I look forward to hearing more about the President's proposal, and 
I applaud him for making a bold statement about the direction we ought 
to pursue. Now is finally the time to address it.
  All of these efforts--tax reform, rolling back unnecessary 
regulations and rules, and providing a better environment for 
businesses to thrive--are vital to getting our economy back on track 
and away from years of stagnant growth we saw under President Obama.
  I should note it is hard to argue with how business-friendly 
policies--and the promise of more--affect the economy and create an 
atmosphere conducive to building businesses and helping families get 
by.
  I think what we have seen is a resurgence of public confidence in the 
American economy. One index by Gallup suggests that business owners are 
now more optimistic than they have been since the summer of 2007. That 
is the kind of confidence and optimism that helps them grow their 
business and create opportunity for the working man and woman in our 
country, and it is a testament to the sea change we have seen over the 
last few months since the new administration came into office and the 
American people chose to retain Republican majorities in the House and 
the Senate. More family-run businesses are expecting us to keep putting 
forward policies that empower job creators, not to get in their way.
  I know we have only seen the first few months of the new Congress and 
we have only seen the first few months of a new Presidential 
administration, but I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish 
so far; frankly, without much help from our friends across the aisle 
who have done everything they can to slow-walk nominations and 
otherwise impede progress. I hope they realize that is bad politics, 
and it is not serving the interests of the American people very well. 
Sooner or later, enough Democrats are going to say: We came here not to 
just say no to every constructive proposal made but actually 
participate in the legislative process and work for the benefit of the 
American people.
  I look forward to doing even more to help those who want to bring 
more jobs and more economic growth to our communities across this great 
land.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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