Date: 2011-12-02
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me just expand on this point regarding President Obama. This administration has approved fewer regulations than the predecessor. George W. Bush. at this same point in their tenures. Furthermore. Bloomberg finds that the average annual cost of regulations under President Obama at about $7 billion to $10 billion is close to the average around the costs from 1981 to 2008. This GOP bill kills rulemaking in favor of special interests. Sixty new analytical steps. can you imagine? You will be bogged down spending money and using government time and using the taxpayers dollars to keep from protecting them. to keep from protecting this innocent child. to keep from protecting children with asthma. to keep from protecting people who need to have clean water. to keep from protecting those who need to have. if you will. a food safety requirement that keeps them from being impacted by E. coli. How "unsensible." if I can use a word in quotes. is that? As the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards says. which includes Consumer Federation of America. this bill will make it virtually impossible for Federal agencies to ensure that American families are protected from tainted food. unsafe drugs. predatory financial schemes. dirty air and water. and dangerous workplaces. Give us a break. Let us follow in the footsteps of President Bush. President Reagan. and our predecessor President Bush and realize that this regulatory scheme is broken. Pass the Jackson Lee amendment and save lives. and lets celebrate that unemployment is going down and find a way to create jobs. Mr. Chair. I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 3010 the "Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011." which would amend the Administrative Procedure Act. This bill would require all agencies to adopt the least costly rule by formally codifying the cost benefit analysis process. The bill also overrides existing statutory standards in laws such as the Clean Air Act. Clean Water Act. and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In addition. this measure will significantly slow the regulatory process. increase costs. and burden an already taxed judicial system. My amendment would allow a federal agency to use their discretion to determine whether to provided advanced notice. not later than 90 days. of a proposed rule prior to it being published in the Federal Register. As it has not been found that agencies have been dilatory in using their discretion. And in fact. there are times when it would be unnecessary. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have provided no solid justification for the bills inflexible mandate that would require an agency to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. ANPRM. as part of the rulemaking proceeding for any major rule or highimpact rule. Agencies are in the best position to be able to determine the relative benefits and burdens of utilizing ANPRMs. I ask will this new rule create jobs? As my Republican colleagues are often raising concerns about the never ending bureaucracy in Washington. This bill adds more than 60 new procedural and analytical requirements to the agency rulemaking process. This would include currently nonexempt rulemaking. In addition. the bill extends the timeframe required to complete legal consideration of an agency proposed rule. This measure is a blatant attempt to delay the rulemaking process and the final implementation of agency rules. Well if as many jobs were created as red tape will be created by this piece of legislation then every American would have a job and one waiting in reserve. This measure calls for Judicial Review of every significant Executive Branch activity and functions. I have been serving as member of this governing body since 1995. and oversight of the Executive Branch is exactly what Congress does. In fact. one of the primary functions of a Congressional Committee is to provide oversight. If the Judicial Branch were required to proactively approve every federal rule. it would be extremely time consuming. The Administrative agencies are made up of experts in their respective fields. Many of the regulations that administrative agencies enact are very specific and require a high level of familiarity with the minute details of certain issues. The time it would take members of the Judiciary to become adequately acquainted with each issue being proposed by each Federal agency would certainly be more productive if channeled into efforts to effect the change that Americans want. As we consider this rule. it is important that we not forget that federal agencies have their own oversight process in place to ensure that proposed regulations are thoroughly vetted. For every proposed regulation. agencies are required to issue a notice of proposed rulemakings to the industry and market over which they regulate. Those entities then comment on the rules. and they go through many rounds of changes before a final order is enacted. Rulemaking takes years. and input from all relevant stakeholders is regularly solicited and received. Delays during the rulemaking process are already created by stakeholders and other branches of government. The reality is that the rulemaking process is already hampered by those whose sole intent is to water down or prevent rules they oppose. Additional delays only hurt Americans. According to a recent report by the Public Citizen delays of OSHA regulations contributed to 100.000 work place injuries. 10.000 cases of workrelated illness. and hundreds of workplace fatalities. Promulgating regulations save lives Furthermore. rules enacted by Federal agencies are subject to Congressional oversight and review. and must meet standards of Judicial review. Arguably. rules and regulation issued by Federal agencies go through just as much. if not more. review as bills considered and passed by this body. Implementing this rule would create an expanded use of formal rulemaking that will effectively prevent needed public health and safety rules. in addition to an expanded and less deferential judicial review process that will lead to endless litigation without enhancing due process. Instead of debating about oversight authority that Congress already has. we should be focusing on the issues that most concern the American people. particularly. creating jobs. Collectively. the procedural and analytical requirements added by this bill would be enormously burdensome. The task of deliberating on. seeking consensus on. and drafting the numerous recitals that would be added to the rulemaking process would draw heavily on agency resourcesa matter that should be of special concern at the present moment. when agencies are facing and will continue to face severe budget pressures. Increasing the time needed to accomplish rulemaking would not only be costly but also would tend to leave stakeholders (including businesses large and small) less able to plan effectively for the future. Not only new regulations. but amendments or rescissions of rules could be deterred by the additional expense and complexity that would be added to the process. Enforcement of these requirements on judicial review is available to regulatory proponents and regulatory opponents alike. adding to the burden of defensive lawyering agencies must carry. Thus. both affirmative regulation and deregulation may be impeded. As our country rebounds from one of most severe economic downturns in our history. it is imperative that we make decisions that will enable our economy to grow and. most importantly. create jobs. We should be using our judgment in a manner that would create American jobs by comprehensively reforming our broken immigration system. We should be working to implement an orderly process for immigration that eases the burden on employers. improves documentation. and compliments our enforcement efforts to make them more effective. Healthy market competition not only protects consumers. but will help our economy to prosper. Congress should be examining the consolidation taking place in certain industries to ensure healthy competition is alive and thriving. America is a free enterprise society. and small businesses are part of the backbone of our economy. employing a vast portion of Americans. We should be ensuring that any consolidation taking place in the marketplace does not push out small businesses and render them unable to compete. In the last couple of years. some sweeping mergers and acquisitions have taken place. Just recently. it was reported that 500 jobs are being cut as a result of last years UnitedContinental merger. As we face a high unemployment rate. and Americans struggle to make ends meet. every job counts. We should be investigating the outcomes of mergers such as UnitedContinental. amongst others. to ensure that no more precious jobs are being lost. Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have stood up here and emphasized the importance of jobs for American workersespecially in the context of immigration debates. However. one of the largest contributors to the lack of employment opportunities here in American is the outsourcing of jobs to other countries where the labor is less expensive. We should be focusing our efforts on ways to return outsourced jobs to American soil. In addition to jobs. the safety of the American people should be a priority. We should be spending time ensuring our prisons are safe. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. federal prisons now house more convicted international and domestic terrorists than the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. To ensure the safety and security of our prisons. the ratio of employees to inmates is key. Hiring freezes within the Federal Bureau of Prisons coupled with rising inmate populations has the potential to negatively affect this critical ratio. and therefore threaten the safety and security of our prisons. By addressing the employee to inmate ratio. we are securing our Nation and creating more jobs for America. Bottom line. the judicial branch has a large responsibility. They carry on their shoulders the needs of the American people. We should not further burden the Judiciary with the work that an entire branch of government has already been commissioned to do. especially since Congress still has oversight authority. For each one of us. the needs of the constituents in our districts should be our priority. The needs of the American people as a whole should be our priority. And for these reasons. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to H.R. 3010. I yield back the balance of my time.