We must ease federal burdens to foster jobs

December 10, 2011

By U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador During my eight-hour-long jobs forum in Boise last month, we asked job creators from more than 20 Idaho businesses what we could do to encourage them to start hiring again. The consensus was that a combination of tax reform and regulatory reduction would stabilize our economy and help them create jobs. We must ease the burdens foisted by government onto America’s job creators. This week in the House of Representatives, my colleagues passed two bills that would put a halt to Obama’s radical environmental agenda. I cosponsored a bill with Congresswoman Kristi Noem of South Dakota that would delay the implementation of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Dust Regulations that could have detrimental effects on rural Idaho. Also, I voted in favor of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. At a time of uncertainty, this Administration continues to hinder our economic growth. The EPA and other federal government agencies continue to impose job-killing regulations with the leadership of President Obama. Congressional Republicans have been passing legislation that would limit the federal government’s involvement in the private sector and foster prosperity. However, the American people may not reap the benefits of this legislation because it will never see the light of day in the Democratically-controlled Senate. Idahoans know that dust is a reality of Western life. We see dust on our dirt roads, when we farm our land or when we maintain our ranches. Only in Washington, D.C. could such a bizarre and nonsensical regulation, such as the one to regulate dust, ever be thought up and, worse, implemented. I am proud to cosponsor Congresswoman Noem’s bill because I know that, unless we stop them, the federal government could designate many more nonattainment areas. This would ultimately devastate Idaho’s agricultural and natural resource industries for years to come. While our uncertain and unfriendly tax structure remains a great deterrent to job creation and economic stabilization, excessive regulatory burdens often go unnoticed by the general public, but not by the businesses who must comply with them. Federal Agencies, housed in Washington, D.C. and made up of unelected civil servants, such as the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration are pushed by the president to impose federal regulations on employers and individuals in Idaho according to his agenda without Congressional oversight. The REINS Act would provide the necessary accountability of the executive branch as it uses government agencies to create and enforce burdensome regulations for America’s job creators. In 2010, the Federal Register reached a record length of 81,405 pages and included many new job-killing regulations. According to the Government Accountability Office, 1,827 rulemaking proceedings during the first half of Fiscal Year 2011 alone were “significant,” “substantive” or “major,” as each had an anticipated economic impact of at least $100 million annually. The Competitive Enterprise Institute estimates that “regulatory costs of $1.752 trillion absorb 11.9 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $14.649 trillion. Clearly, this administration has had no trouble increasing the size of government. It’s time it makes job creation a higher priority, as well.