On the recordDecember 10, 2014
I want to talk a little bit about regulation today. We end this Congress failing once again for the Congress to take more responsibility for regulation. Items such as the REINS Act, which I have sponsored with Senator Paul and others and which would require Members of Congress to vote on regulations that had significant economic impact did not get done. A bill that I introduced with Senator King from Maine that would create a regulatory review process that got great reviews in every economic and many other papers and magazines did not get done. But what I am seeing in Missouri and around the country is more and more concern that begins to focus on the Congress not doing what it needs to do to keep the regulators under control--legislation that would routinely put an end date on every regulation so that regulation has to be reviewed and regulation has to come up again and be looked at. Frankly, if you combined that with the requirement for the Senate and the House to vote on that regulation, it would be very unlikely that regulations that no longer made sense would be presented another time--having to look at this in a way that makes sense for our economy. One of the generally used estimates is that $2 trillion is spent every year in the United States complying with regulations. Well, let's assume that maybe as much as half of that--it could be more--is either duplicative or simply unnecessary.…
