On the recordFebruary 4, 2015
I thank the chairman for yielding time and for the leadership he has provided in getting this bill passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Mr. Chairman, we are going to probably have to say this many times today, but our colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to make this an antiregulation bill. We are not opposed to regulations on our side of the aisle. We are in favor of commonsense rules. Mr. Chairman, each year, Washington imposes thousands of pages of rules and regulations on America's private sector employers, as well as State and local governments. Buried in those pages are costly Federal mandates that make it harder for businesses to hire and cash-strapped States, counties, and cities to serve their citizens. As a former State senator, I can testify to the difficulty of balancing the State's budget when there are dozens of complicated, mostly unfunded Federal mandates that must be taken into account. As a former small business owner, I understand firsthand the concerns that job creators have about how lengthy, confusing rules affect their ability to conduct business and provide jobs and opportunities to their employees. That is why I introduced H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, which we call UMITA, and am proud to see it brought before the House for consideration.…
