Reducing Red Tape

Nothing kills jobs faster than a Washington regulation. Too often federal agencies impose rules without talking to the people who will be forced to live with them. This week the House of Representatives took action to reduce the regulations small businesses face. With the passage of the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act, the House gave small business owners and job creators some relief from onerous regulations.

Since taking office, the Obama administration has had under review more than 400 regulations classified as economically significant. A regulation is classified as economically significant if the proposed regulation will have an annual impact on the economy of $100 million or more. If every regulation the Obama administration has under review were to be implemented, jobs creators would be saddled with at least $40 billion in new regulations – simply put – this is unacceptable.

The Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act would impose a moratorium on any new economically significant regulation until unemployment drops below six percent nationally. This will save at least $22.1 billion and thousands of jobs. The legislation would also prohibit “lame duck” administrations from issuing economically significant regulations. Under this legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission would be required to conduct more detailed cost-benefit analyses on proposed regulations.

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses have created 64 percent of all new jobs in the past 15 years. Small businesses truly do drive the economy. Unfortunately, Washington bureaucrats have imposed annual regulatory costs of $10,585 per employee on small businesses. The SBA estimated in a 2010 report that the total regulatory costs on small businesses amount to $1.75 trillion annually. That’s enough money for businesses to provide 35 million private sector jobs with an average salary of $50,000.

Across Arkansas’ First District and throughout our country, small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. This week the House took action to get Washington bureaucrats off the backs of small business owners. Regulations from the Obama Administration are deterring small business owners from hiring workers and growing the economy. In Congress I will continue fighting to create an environment that encourages small business owners to hire so our economy can grow and our nation can move forward.