Virginia Foxx: “House Resolution 78 provides for a structured rule providing for consideration of H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates…”

“House Resolution 78 provides for a structured rule providing for consideration of H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, and H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act. Mr. Speaker, every year bureaucrats in Washington impose thousands of regulatory mandates on local governments and small businesses. Those mandates can be costly, stretching city and State budgets and making it harder for American businesses to hire. The Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, H.R. 50, will ensure that the people who write these regulations in Washington know exactly what they are asking the American people to pay and whether the cost of compliance might make it harder for family businesses to meet payroll and stay afloat. H.R. 50 will force Washington to think carefully about regulatory costs before it passes them on to Americans. This bill is about transparency and accountability and is something Democrats and Republicans can all support. In 1995, Congress passed the bipartisan Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, UMRA, legislation designed to prevent the Federal Government from imposing unfunded mandates onto State and local governments or private businesses without policymakers or the public knowing the cost of such policies. UMRA's main objective was to force the Federal Government to estimate how much unfunded mandates would cost local governments and businesses and rein in out-of-control mandates.…”