Dear Member of Congress:
On behalf of the 362,000 members of the National TaxpayersUnion (NTU), I urge you to support the Regulation Moratorium and JobsPreservation Act of 2011. This legislation, introduced as S. 1438 by Sen.Johnson (R-WI) and H.R. 2898 by Rep. Ribble (R-WI) would generally prohibit anyfederal agency from taking a significant regulatory action until the unemploymentrate is lower than 7.8 percent – the rate when President Obama took office.
NTU has long argued that regulatory mandates can be everybit as destructive as more overt fiscal policies such as higher taxes, fees,expenditures, and debt. But while the recession and its tenuous aftermathshould have counseled a judicious approach to new government regulations, atidal wave of red tape threatens to engulf businesses. In just the first sixmonths of the 2011 fiscal year, 15 major regulations were issued with acombined annual cost to the nation exceeding $5.8 billion. And with hundreds ofnew edicts stemming from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, theDodd-Frank financial industry law, and out-of-control agencies like the FCC andEPA coming down the pipeline, any hint of a recovery could be washed away.
The Regulation Moratorium and Jobs Preservation Act would helpto lessen the damage from this deluge by enacting a temporary suspension on carefullydefined, “significant” regulatory actions that would have an adverse impact onjobs, the economy, or our international competitiveness. Furthermore, S. 1438and H.R. 2898 provide carefully-tailored exceptions in the case of nationalemergencies or a waiver passed by the House and Senate.
These provisions would help to halt the recklessrulemaking that is saddling would-be job creators with costly mandates. In sodoing Congress could eliminate one of the largest roadblocks to job creation –regulatory uncertainty. Throughout the economic downturn business owners haveexpressed a reluctance to create jobs and invest because they cannot foreseethe costs of complying with new regulations. A moratorium would ease theseconcerns and free entrepreneurs to focus on building and growing their businessesin order to provide the employment opportunities necessary to jumpstart oureconomy.
Increased regulation is not the answer to our nation’swoes. Rather than expand the burden of bureaucracy, Washington must work tocreate the conditions necessary for economic prosperity. NTU believes theRegulation Moratorium and Jobs Preservation Act is an excellent first steptoward the reforms needed to accomplish that goal. Any roll call votes on S. 1438 or H.R. 2898 will be significantlyweighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Brandon GreifeFederal Government Affairs Manager