Alert

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) this week joined U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Joni Ernst (Iowa) to introduce the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act. This bill establishes a commission-based procedure to reduce the federal regulatory burden on the economy.

“Every day, I hear concerns from Missouri families, farmers, and business owners who are burdened with outdated government regulations that continue to hurt household budgets and hold back economic growth and job creation,” Blunt said. “Americans need more economic certainty to plan for the future, grow their businesses and put more people back to work. The SCRUB Act would create a responsible commission to review existing regulations and ease unnecessary regulatory burdens so Americans can get back to hiring, expanding, growing, and investing.”

Unjustified Costs of Old Regulations:

Federal regulations now impose a burden of $1.88 trillion on the economy, according to a recent study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. That amounts to roughly $15,000 per household, 11 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, and nearly $500 billion more than individual and corporate federal income tax revenue combined. At the end of 2014, the Code of Federal Regulations contained a massive 175,000 pages of regulations in 236 volumes. Nevertheless, retrospective review efforts by administrations of both parties have consistently failed to yield meaningful reductions in the regulatory burden. One study by the American Action Forum found that the Obama administration’s retrospective review plans actually imposed $23 billion in new costs on the economy.

Using Past Successes to Guide a New Approach:

The SCRUB Act establishes a bipartisan, blue-ribbon commission modeled on previous successes such as the post-Cold War Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to review existing federal regulations and identify those that should be repealed to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. The Act sets the Commission’s goal as the reduction of at least 15 percent in the cumulative costs of federal regulation with a minimal reduction in the overall effectiveness of such regulation. Upon the Commission’s review, the legislation requires that annual and final Commission repeal recommendations for presented as Joint Resolutions for expedited consideration and approval by Congress. If the Commission’s recommendations are enacted, repeal is required by law.

The legislation prioritizes for review regulations that are major rules, have been in effect more than 15 years, impose paperwork burdens that could be reduced substantially without significantly diminishing regulatory effectiveness, impose disproportionately high costs on small businesses, or could be strengthened in their effectiveness while reducing regulatory costs. It also establishes additional key factors to be taken into account when identifying regulations for repeal—for example, regulations that: have been rendered obsolete by technological or market changes; have achieved their goals and can be repealed without target problems recurring; are ineffective; overlap, duplicate or conflict with other federal regulations or with state and local regulations; or impose costs that are not justified by benefits produced for society within the United States.

For any given regulation, the Commission is authorized to recommend either immediate repeal or repeal through a flexible “cut-go” process, whereby agencies would have to offset the costs of new regulations by repealing Commission-identified regulations of equal or greater cost. These procedures allow speedy repeal in the most urgent cases and staggered repeal, modification, or replacement of others to assure a smooth process for agencies, affected entities, and the public.

Blunt has helped lead the fight to stop overregulation and restore government accountability in Washington:

• Regulatory Review and Sunset Act:  In April 2015, Blunt introduced the Regulatory Review and Sunset Act, legislation that establishes an orderly process by which federal agencies are required to regularly review regulations with an effect on the economy of $100 million or more to determine whether they should be continued, modified, consolidated, or terminated.
• Regulatory Improvement Act: In March 2015, Blunt reintroduced the Regulatory Improvement Act, bipartisan legislation that would create a “Regulatory Improvement Commission” to review outdated regulations with the goal of modifying, consolidating, or repealing regulations in order to reduce compliance costs, encourage growth and innovation, and improve competitiveness.
• ENFORCE the Law Act: In January 2015, Blunt reintroduced the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law (ENFORCE the Law) Act, which would put a procedure in place to permit Congress to authorize a lawsuit against the executive branch for failure to faithfully execute the laws.
• REINS Act: In January 2015, Blunt co-sponsored the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which would require Congress to approve every new major rule proposed by the executive branch with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more before the rule can be enforced on the American people.
• Regulatory Responsibility for Our Economy Act: Blunt co-sponsored Roberts's Regulatory Responsibility for Our Economy Act, which ensures that regulations put forth by the executive branch consider the economic burden on American businesses, account for stakeholder input, and promote innovation. The bill would require all federal agencies to review their significant regulations, and propose a timeline to repeal those deemed burdensome, unnecessary or those that harm the economy or job creation.