Bob Dole: “Today President Clinton announced his proposal for reinventing environmental, food and drug regulations. I certainly…”

“Today President Clinton announced his proposal for reinventing environmental, food and drug regulations. I certainly want to welcome President Clinton to the regulatory reform debate. Easing the burdens of compliance is a welcome first step, but misses the point that real reform means getting rid of unnecessary and overburdensome regulations. President Clinton is trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, his limited proposals are consistent with legislation I have introduced on regulatory reform. On the other, he sent his administrator of EPA to Capitol Hill last week to denounce our common sense reform bill as rolling back 20 years of environmental protection and to reel off wild horror stories that are an obvious misreading of what we are trying to do. On February 21, President Clinton specifically instructed the Federal regulators 'to go over every single regulation and cut those regulations which are obsolete.' President Clinton's proposal does not meet that test--his proposal is no substitute for eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle productivity, innovation and individual initiative. That is exactly the kind of reform the American people are looking for, and the kind of reform our comprehensive regulatory reform act will provide. What I am looking for is real common sense when regulations are needed.”