Saturday, March 31, 2018

Billy Long: We will continue to fight to roll back overzealous regulations

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

In 2017, more than half of small businesses said that regulations were among their top concerns. According to that same survey released by the National Small Business Association, small businesses spend more than $83,000 in their first year of operation to stay compliant with regulations. And it’s not state and local regulations that are the issue, it’s federal regulations. Fifty-eight percent of small business owners say that federal regulations are the most burdensome to their business. It’s time that finally changes.

Cutting regulations continues to be a top priority for both the president and Congress. Last year, Congress passed the Midnight Rules Relief Act and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act. These bills aim to cut down on regulations and increase congressional oversight. In addition to these bills, last year, the House of Representatives passed 15 pieces of Congressional Review Act legislation that roll back regulations across different sectors. The Congressional Review Act has been used since 1996 in order to keep the executive branch in check and prevent harmful rules from going into effect. Earlier this March, the House passed the Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act and the Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns Act. Both of these bills have the same goal: limit the federal government’s role.

The Comprehensive Regulatory Review Act would require and expand the review of financial regulatory requirements by requiring a review every seven years instead of 10 years. This would help streamline regulations by either combining or getting rid of duplicate regulations. I constantly hear from community banks about all the red tape they have to cut through to ensure they are compliant. Sometimes the red tape can cost them thousands and thousands of dollars, which most small banks can’t afford.

The Blocking Regulatory Interference from Closing Kilns (BRICK) Act aims to tackle abusive environmental regulations. The BRICK Act is in response to a rule implemented in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency, which established emission rules for brick, structural clay products and the clay ceramics manufacturing industry. This rule is not only being challenged in court, but has the possibility of costing thousands of jobs.

Unelected bureaucrats in Washington many times forget that regulations have real world effects. It’s not just words on paper. Real people feel the effects and sometimes have to close up shop due to the burdensome and costly consequences of the rules. As great as these bills are, there is still more work to be done. We will continue the fight to roll back overzealous regulations that are harming businesses and costing thousands of jobs.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you Congressman Long!!
    You have the people of the 7th District interests at heart

    Harvey HUTCHINSON 303-522-6622 voice&text

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  2. Anonymous8:39 PM

    Republicans always discuss doing away with federal regulations in terms of small business. They don't have much to say about them in regard to corporate giants. Easy to understand. Who doesn't support somebody who has created a small business and works hard running it? As far as federal regulations go generally, though, I like them. I like clean air and clean water. I like the idea that the food I buy and the planes I fly on have been inspected and that the industries that produce them are regulated with my safety in mind. I wish the financial industry had been regulated in 2008 before millions of Americans lost their homes and small businesses and retirement savings. Republicans have made "regulations" a dirty word, because federal regulations keep in check the corporate giants who would do anything, at everyone else's expense, to make an extra buck. Since the time of the Industrial Revolution in America, we've been in a running battle between corporate profits and the health and safety of the rest of us. Don't fall for the "Regulations are terrible" propaganda. Many of them are protecting us and our families every day, at least for now.

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  3. Anonymous5:30 AM

    Typical Republican ignorance. Why do republicans hate education and a clean environment? Education helps people read and understand the lying rhetoric and make informed decisions based on actual facts. Actual fact is another "dirty" phrase republicans can't stand. Regulations which make the corporations clean up their toxic garbage is taking money from the corporate profits and thereby hurting Boss Hog Long's bank account. Then you have the blind followers (some actually believing) that the unethical scum they elected to govern are doing them a favor. But some of them have been (in)bred that way. Continue living in your alternative facts world.

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  4. Anonymous10:29 AM

    The EPA is currently being gutted. We are all going to pay the price, and not in dollars. Look up what our air and water were like in the 1970s compared to now, and you will see how effective the EPA has been in cleaning up the environment we live in. I read last week that the Trump administration wants to cut back on the number of meat and poultry inspectors to speed up production. Who would that help, and who would it hurt? Protecting consumers like us is not their priority.

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  5. Anonymous8:03 AM

    Racing BACKWARDS as fast as the Lobbyists can pay for and push! And the debt will fall to our children and grandchildren. What a pitiful legacy.

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  6. Anonymous2:18 PM

    I cannot address this issue without showing my hatred for the republican party and its disdain for the environment which gives us everything for a healthy life. It is against humanity and should any religious scholars want to chime in for once it is against God's law to destroy our earth. You have some sick followers who are out for the all mighty buck and hopefully will be appropriately dealt with when the time comes.
    Sickening is all I can close with.

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  7. Anonymous9:21 PM

    Voting is like driving a car!

    Select "D" to go forward and "R" to go backward!

    Can't understand the preceding? Donald Trump has a job in DC for YOU!

    ReplyDelete