Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

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Weekly Column from Congressman Gosar

“Bureaucrats Gone Wild: Congress Needs to Reassert Itself”                                           

By, Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ-01)     

Federal regulations affect almost everything we do.  Obviously, some regulations are necessary. They protect consumers, public health, the environment, and many other things.  Before coming to Congress, I owned and operated my own dental practice for 25 years.  I was required to follow numerous regulations from the Department of Labor, OSHA and the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, among others.  Many of these regulations were common-sense regulations, important to ensuring patient and worker safety.

Concurrently, my small business was also faced with an array of unnecessary, expensive, and burdensome regulations.  As I travel across my 58,000+ square mile congressional district and meet with my constituents, I have found my personal experience is true of nearly everyone who operates a business.  Individuals, businesses, and state and local governments are drowning in a sea of red tape and regulations. Former Congresses allowed federal bureaucrats to run wild, developing far more regulations than necessary, and it costs our country dearly.  

Regulations impose what are called “hidden taxes.”  These hidden taxes can be found throughout our everyday lives—from heating our homes, to buying electricity, food, toys, appliances, cars, airplane tickets, and cell phones.  The thousands of regulations are good for lawyers and compliance consultants, but do little to benefit you.  

A 2008 study by the Heritage Foundation determined there were over 50 agencies enforcing over 145,000 pages of rules.  The regulatory burdens on individuals, businesses, and governments have gotten exponentially worse in recent years.  The Obama Administration seems to have a rule for everything.  A recent update concludes that in the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year, “15 major regulations were issued, with annual costs exceeding $5.8 billion and one-time implementation costs approaching $6.5 billion.  Overall, the Obama Administration imposed 75 new major regulations from January 2009 to mid-FY 2011, with annual costs of $38 billion.” Last month, Speaker Boehner asked the White House to disclose any federal rules in the works with economic costs of $1 billion or more. The Administration’s regulatory agenda for 2011 contains 219 such items. Last year, that figure was 191, versus the combined total for the first two years of the Bush Administration of 103.

Yet, the Obama Administration appears puzzled as to why the economy is flat lining.   In my view, there is a direct relationship to imposing these hidden taxes, creating complex regulatory schemes that force businesses to hire a team of expensive accountants and lawyers, and a flat or declining economy.  Businesses in this country simply cannot operate under this ever-changing regulatory environment.  Businesses need stability.  

Even worse, federal agencies have been establishing many rules and regulations that far exceed congressional intent.  For example, Congress rejected the so-called “Cap and Trade” legislation last Congress, so the EPA is trying to execute a very similar scheme unilaterally through regulations. The House passed legislation to scale back this regulatory overreach in April.  Before passage, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated those regulations would cost $57 million in 2012 and about $250 million over the 2012-2016 period.  Many companies in my district asserted these actions could force them out of business, eliminating hundreds, if not thousands of jobs.  In Coconino County, a “water protection guidance” increased the costs and delayed the construction of the Campbell Avenue Drainage Channel, hampering the county’s Schultz Pass flood mitigation efforts for this monsoon season.  These types of delays are far too common, resulting in serious financial consequences.

I am committed to exposing unnecessary regulations that are stifling economic productivity and scaling them back.  This past week, I voted for—and the House passed—the TRAIN Act, bipartisan legislation that would require an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative and incremental impacts of certain rules issued by the EPA.  This will give the American people a better understanding of how these regulations are impacting jobs, global competitiveness, and fuel and electricity costs.  In addition, I am a cosponsor of a wide variety of other legislation aimed at scaling back job-killing regulations.

When our founding fathers established this country, they intended the federal government to be a small, inconsequential part of our everyday lives.  The sooner we restore our independent spirit and encourage individual initiative, the sooner the economy will grow. To get there, Congress must reassert itself, override the job-killing bureaucrats, and implement a whole-scale repeal of unnecessary and burdensome regulations.  It is time that we get government back to working for us, not against us. 

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