March 16, 2012

Red Tape Review 031612

Regulations by the Numbers for 2012:

423 Days: Since the President’s Executive Order on Regulations

250 Days: Since the President’s Executive Order on Regulations for Independent Agencies

0 Rules: Economically significant rules repealed this year

176 Rules: Regulations deemed significant under Executive Order 12866

$26.3B: Cost of regulatory burdens from new rules for the year

15932 Pages: Pages of regulations in the Federal Register so far this year

48.4 Million: Hours of annual paperwork burden.

A new report tracking Dodd-Frank regulations shows that as of March 1, a total of 225 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed. This is 56.3% of the 400 total rulemaking requirements, and 78.7% of the 286 rulemaking requirements with specified deadlines. Of these 225 passed deadlines, 158 (70.2%) have been missed and 67 (29.8%) have been met with finalized rules.

Senate Republicans are fighting for common sense solutions to regulations such as Senator Moran’s “Keep Families Farming” public service campaign, which highlights the onerous Department of Labor rule to restrict the type of work youth can do on farms and ranches.

National Review: An EPA Power Grab: EPA claims that its greenhouse-gas regulations derive from the CAA as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA. But in the last Congress, after almost two decades of global-warming advocacy, Congress declined to give EPA explicit authority to regulate greenhouse gases, when Senate leaders mothballed cap-and trade legislation. The notion that Congress gave EPA such authority when the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, years before global warming emerged as a public concern, defies both history and logic. (March 15, 2012)

Washington Times: Red Ink on the Rise: When it comes to regulations, President Obama’s message to his conservative critics seems to be: Message received. Early last year, he vowed to crack down on overzealous rule-making, noting that the “rules have gotten out of balance” and “have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs.” He’s right - they have. (March 12, 2012)

Harvard Business Review: Is Dodd-Frank Too Complex to Work?: The problem with Dodd-Frank is that it's 1,000 pages of legislative guidelines, all of which need to be interpreted. So now as various regulatory agencies move into action, the complexity of implementation is generating outcries of concern in the financial industry, and defensive reactions on the part of the regulators. (March 13, 2012)

Bloomberg: Obama’s Second Term To-Do List Positioned to Out-Regulate Bush: Pending rules in the White House pipeline would position a re-elected President Barack Obama to outpace his predecessor with second-term rulemaking, according to a review of regulatory filings. Rules still need to be written to carry out much of Obama’s signature first-term domestic policy initiatives, the health-care overhaul and the Dodd-Frank law regulating the financial industry. (March 15, 2012)

Washington Examiner: A Common-Sense Way to Check Obama's Regulation Mania: In his State of the Union address, President Obama claimed he's "approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his." But there is much more to the story than the numbers. What Obama neglected to mention is that his regulations cost much more to implement. (March 14, 2012)

GOP Solutions to Red Tape

Moran: Keep Families Farming Campaign

Inhofe Introduces Bill to Improve Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (S. 2148)

Toomey Announces “Had Enough” Public Service Campaign

Inhofe Measure to Stop One of Obama-EPA's Most Expensive Rules (S.J. Res. 37)

Enzi: 44 Senators Challenge NLRB’s Ambush Election Rules (S.J. Res. 36)

Blunt Introduces Conscience Amendment (S. Amdt. 1520 to S. 1813)

Toomey Introduces Legislation Repealing Street Sign Regulation (S. 2021)

DeMint, Barrasso Offer Bill to Relieve Regulatory Burdens, Spur Investment (S.1962)

Snowe Introduces Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (S. 1938)

Isakson Introduces Legislation to Reverse Decision to Allow “Mini Unions” (S. 1843)

Thune Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Increase Access to Capital for Job Creators (S. 1831)