05.25.16

Enzi Pushes for Regulatory Budget

Measure Would Calculate Cost of Govt. Regulations on Families

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) today joined Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to push for legislation to establish a regulatory budget, which would calculate the costs of federal regulations on hardworking families and small businesses for the first time.

“Overregulation breaks the spirit of innovation that has traditionally pushed our nation to greatness,” said Chairman Enzi.  “It is time to bring the true costs of federal regulations out of the shadows and into the light.  If you think the size of regulatory costs is overwhelming, that’s nothing compared to how complex, time consuming, confusing, and contradictory regulatory requirements can be for the people who have to live with them. At the end of the federal regulatory process are real businesses, real jobs, real communities, real people and real families. In order to help them, we must create a better system of checks and balances for regulations affecting hardworking families.”

The Regulatory Budget Act would require Congress to vote on the total regulatory burden each federal agency may impose on the American people each year, essentially a budget for federal regulatory costs similar to the budget for taxes and spending that Congress considers annually.  The bill will also require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit to Congress a detailed report annually on the cost of federal regulations, including a projected reduction in federal agency costs if rules and regulations are projected to decrease.

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