Jerry Nadler: “This amendment requires the Comptroller General to include an estimate of a rule's effect on inflation in the…”

“This amendment requires the Comptroller General to include an estimate of a rule's effect on inflation in the congressional review report. I oppose this amendment because it requires an estimate of a rule's effect on inflation, which would require the Comptroller General to speculate, based on limited evidence, how rules that likely have little to do with the economy would affect inflation. The GAO has already reported to Congress that they would be unable to assess a rule's impact on the economy with the limited information available, and in any case, the 15 days provided for major rule reports do not allow for the GAO to make a determination on a rule's effect even if they had the necessary information. Adding more requirements for various officials to estimate a rule's effect on the economy when they lack the necessary time and information to provide a concrete answer will not heighten the efficacy of this bill but will, rather, create more unnecessary estimates for Congress to weigh in their review of agency rules. In addition, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has previously noted that estimating the total cost of regulations is inherently difficult and that such estimates of the cost of regulation should be viewed with a great deal of caution. Like the OMB, CRS has noted that there are significant methodological challenges to estimating and aggregating the total costs and benefits of rules.…”