On the recordDecember 7, 2011
I thank my distinguished chairman from Texas. Mr. Chairman, 85 percent of the land in Nevada is controlled by the Federal Government. Perhaps no other State in the Nation lives with a more daily, direct impact of the presence of the Federal Government and its regulatory regime than the Silver State. Community-driven development proposals that would generate economic growth often take years longer than they should because of layer upon layer of regulatory, mandatory gymnastics. Home builders, agribusiness, mining, manufacturers, retailers, the resort and hospitality industries, small business in general all lament the gymnastics that they have to go through to get a permit or even to comply with existing regulations. All of that effort in a State, which I am sorry to have to sit up here and remind you, 85 percent of the land controlled by the Federal Government, highest unemployment rate in the Nation, highest foreclosure rate in the Nation. We are trying to generate economic development, and it's taking years to get a permit because of regulatory regimes. There is no one that will indicate that that is not the case. So when we talk about this issue before us today--and I congratulate my colleague from Kentucky. When we talk about the job of Congress in an oversight sense, I think it is entirely appropriate that you revisit the regulations that are promulgated not out of thin air, but as a result of the statutes that pass these two Houses.…





