Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank the gentlemen from Virginia for yielding to me and for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Chairman, I rise today…”

“I thank the gentlemen from Virginia for yielding to me and for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition of H.R. 50, the misleadingly named Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, which passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on a strictly partisan vote. This dangerous bill is an attempt to weaken consumer protections, give private industry an unfair advantage, and erect unnecessary barriers to the regulatory process. Ultimately, this bill is designed to prioritize the interests of private businesses over the interests of the consumers these rules are designed to protect. H.R. 50 also slows the regulatory process by using litigation today to delay the approval of rules. The existing Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 prohibits courts from using the law to stay, enjoin, invalidate, or otherwise affect an agency rule. H.R. 50 would fundamentally change that law by eliminating this prohibition, giving regulated businesses the ability to abuse a gratuitously expanded judicial review and tie up rules that would otherwise protect real people in courts for years.…”