Peter Roskam: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, my friend from Florida asked a rhetorical question. He said: Why spend…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, my friend from Florida asked a rhetorical question. He said: Why spend precious time on this? And here is the reply: Because our constituents' time is precious. Our constituents' time in trying to comply with regulations is precious. Before I get there, let me just give you a little bit of a history, Mr. Speaker, about my understanding of the genesis of the REINS Act. It is interesting from a process point of view and a substance point of view. From a process point of view, my understanding is that this came out of a townhall meeting that was hosted and sponsored by our former colleague, Congressman Geoff Davis from Kentucky. He gathered a group of people together and, as I understand the story, one of the constituents raised his hand and he posed this question. He said: Congressman, how is it possible that the Environmental Protection Agency is contemplating a rule that is so controversial it couldn't pass Congress? How is that even conceivable under our governance structure that unelected bureaucrats are able to accomplish something that the elected Representatives of the people have said ``no'' to? Congressman Davis in a very thoughtful way began to take that in. Out of it, he began to work with other people and put together the REINS Act, Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny, that says this.…”