Senator Rounds was cited as part of the RESTORE resolution in a colleague’s recent press release that I thought I’d tag for your information. The resolution requires that the House & Senate would annually review all federal rules with an impact of $50 million of more to the economy.
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Rep. Bishop Introduces RESTORE Resolution
WASHINGTON – Congressman Mike Bishop (MI-08) has introduced the bipartisan Regulation Sensibility Through Oversight Restoration (RESTORE) Resolution, H. Con. Res. 67, with Congressman Collin Peterson (MN-07) to create greater congressional oversight of federal rules and the process for which agencies create them. Working with Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, the resolution would bring together a Joint Committee to study federal regulations, make recommendations to reduce their burden on hardworking Americans, and analyze the feasibility and options for creating a review process in Congress.
“Unelected bureaucrats create thousands of onerous rules every year without any checks over their impact on families and businesses,” said Rep. Bishop. “RESTORE takes congressional oversight a step further by giving the people’s representatives a place in the review process – so we can cut through the red tape that is holding our nation back. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate on restoring the good government our Founding Fathers intended.”
“Overly burdensome regulations are wreaking havoc on our rural communities, farmers and ranchers, and small business owners. Establishing a new review process that allows for more input from those who will actually be impacted by new rules and regulations will help ensure that laws are implemented the way Congress intended,” said Rep. Peterson.
“Since its introduction in May, my RESTORE Resolution has gained momentum,” said Sen. Rounds. “In addition to receiving bipartisan, bicameral support in Congress, RESTORE has the support of dozens of local and national organizations. It is a common sense approach to addressing the federal government’s overreach and it will restore the people’s role in eliminating unnecessary and burdensome regulations. RESTORE offers a permanent solution to overregulation in America and reestablishes Congress’ role in the rule making process. I thank Reps. Bishop and Peterson for taking the lead on this important piece of legislation in the House and look forward to working with them.”
BACKGROUND
The RESTORE Resolution would create a Joint Select Committee consisting of members of both the Senate and House of Representatives. The committee would:
- Analyze the feasibility of a permanent joint rules review committee to
- Review all rules causing an annual impact on the economy of $50 million or more before the rule is enacted; and
- Delay the imposition of rules for review to the Permanent Joint Rules Review Committee.
- Analyze the feasibility of requiring each federal agency to submit each proposed rule over $50 million to the appropriate committees of Congress for review before the rule is enacted.
- Conduct a systematic review of rules enacted by federal agencies;
- Hold hearings on the effects of current rules and look for ways to reduce the regulatory overreach;
- Submit to Congress recommendations for a process to sunset overly burdensome and unnecessary rules, as well as a process for federal agencies to submit rules to Congress for review before they are enacted;
- Submit to Congress recommendations for ways to reduce the financial burden these regulations place on American families;
- Recommend whether Congress should overturn rules by enacting a joint resolution of disapproval; and
- Submit a list of rules that should be repealed.
Additional statistics:
- Americans pay an estimated $1.4 trillion in individual income taxes annually. (source: Wall Street Journal)
- The U.S. compiled an estimated $1.88 trillion in federal regulations last year alone. (source: Competitive Enterprise Institute)
- Nearly $15,000 is spent, on average, per American household on economy-wide regulations annually. (source: Competitive Enterprise Institute)
- 41 state legislatures have a process for reviewing the rulemaking process today. (source: National Conference of State Legislatures)
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Kudos to Rounds and his team for making some noise and waves in Washington DC. The Legislative branch is broken in many ways with its arcane rules and procedures. The Executive branch is similarly a mess, unelected officials running amok with little to no oversight. Some fixes are glaring and obvious, others more subtle. While I wouldn’t want to categorize this as either, I would simply applaud the Senator for a start. Washington was broken over time. It can be fixed, over time, with efforts like this. Thanks Senator Rounds.