Roy Blunt: “As we look at our efforts to be more competitive as a society, we clearly have to look at the regulations imposed by…”

“As we look at our efforts to be more competitive as a society, we clearly have to look at the regulations imposed by government and be sure that any of those regulations, any of that paperwork, is justified. The cost of paperwork and regulatory constraints have been steadily increasing in America. America's small business owners are feeling the pinch; and they believe, along with those who support this bill, it is time to do something about it. Tax relief is not the problem; but we do need a simpler, fairer tax system because all of these things we put into law do require different levels of compliance. What this bill attempts to do is find out what those compliant costs are. Paperwork and regulatory burdens cost small business of fewer than 20 employees $6,975 per employee just to fill out the paperwork and comply with federally imposed regulatory burdens. That is nearly 60 percent more per employee than if they have more than 500 employees in their business. So the burden is disproportionate on small business though it is not insignificant on all of our businesses as we create jobs and make an effort to compete in a world economy. Mr. Chairman, we can loosen the chokehold of paperwork and regulation. To do so, we need to be fully informed on the true cost of these regulations.”