Timothy Roemer: “Mr. Chairman, nothing is more important to our American society, to our citizens, our consumers and our businesses than…”

“Mr. Chairman, nothing is more important to our American society, to our citizens, our consumers and our businesses than addressing the excessive cost of regulation. Nowhere is it more true and more accurate than its impact and its negative impact on the manufactured housing industry. Along those lines, 4 rac{1}{2} months ago we sat down with Secretary Cisneros, with consumer groups, with Democrats and Republicans, and we started working out a way by which we can cut back on the cost to the manufactured housing industry of promulgating even simple new changes to regulatory laws and standards. We came up with a very delicate balance here, this bipartisan bill. This bill will make it much easier to promulgate these regulations and standards because the consumers are at the table, the businesses are at the table, and it is not just Federal mandates coming out of HUD. This is commonsense legislation whereby some people have always said regulations are the answer. Now, more and more in the last year we have heard no regulations should be out there. We are saying, let us come up with a third alternative, a new idea and bring Democrats and Republicans together.”