Jay Dickey: “In 1978 a restaurant owner in Pine Bluff, AR, my hometown, built a restaurant with two required parking spaces, a ramp…”

“In 1978 a restaurant owner in Pine Bluff, AR, my hometown, built a restaurant with two required parking spaces, a ramp, and a streetlight for the disabled. In 1992 the regulators came in and said, ``The laws have changed, and you have got to move that ramp and the two parking places to the front door.'' Rather than fight the Government or pay a fine or both, the ramp was moved, the two spaces were moved, but the streetlight was left. So the cost to the owner was $4,000 plus an extra space for the streetlight. The owner is watching carefully tonight to see that we pass this bill, the Congressional Accountability Act. Why? Because if Congress has to abide by the regulators who come in and sustain their positions with their fines, then congress someday will say, as we have said for a long time, ``We cannot keep this place going with these expenses.'' Then the people who fuel the engine of our economy, the small business person, will find relief in our leadership.”