Mike Thompson: “I want to ask my colleagues for their help to bring much-needed improvements to our federal regulatory system. In March…”

“I want to ask my colleagues for their help to bring much-needed improvements to our federal regulatory system. In March, the Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported S. 981, the ``Regulatory Improvement Act,'' by a 10-5 vote. At the time of the markup, the administration sent a letter to me and Senator Levin expressing a number of concerns with the bill. Over the past few months, we have worked to resolve those concerns, which largely involved adding clarifying language to the bill. In addition, some sections of the bill were modified, and a couple were dropped. On July 16, we received a letter from Jack Lew, the Acting OMB Director, on behalf of the administration. The letter says the administration supports the legislation with the proposed changes and will cooperate with us to pass it. These changes are explained in the accompanying summary of the managers' amendment that Senator Levin and I would support. I am pleased that the President recognizes that we need this legislation to deliver the effective and efficient regulatory system that the American people expect and deserve. Most of us recall the partisan and ultimately destructive debate on this issue in the last Congress. Reforming regulation is an area fraught with distrust. It is tempting for opponents of reform to try to score political points by scare tactics. We have to set aside political posturing if we're going to get the job done.”