Nydia M. Velazquez: “Reducing the costs of regulations is a very important issue for small businesses, and it is an issue that is always on…”

“Reducing the costs of regulations is a very important issue for small businesses, and it is an issue that is always on their minds. Complicated rules and duplicative requirements can create burdens for small firms across a wide range of industries. Unchecked regulations can reduce companies' profitability, causing them to reduce employment and, in the worst cases, even go out of business. It is for these very reasons that President Barack Obama has taken strong actions. He has issued several broad-based executive orders on rulemaking. Most importantly, he instructed agencies to conduct retrospective review of their regulations. These reviews have resulted in near-term cost savings to the U.S. economy of $10 billion. He has always required agencies to estimate the costs and benefits of regulations, consider less burdensome alternatives, and incorporate those that are affected by regulations into the rulemaking process. Taken together, these efforts are helping to rein in regulatory costs, while ensuring that agencies can carry out their mission. It is against this backdrop that we are considering the bill before us today. Too often on the House floor legislation is painted as either being totally perfect or completely awful. With this bill, neither of these characterizations is appropriate. In fact, on many fronts, H.R. 527 contains several very positive provisions and will make a real difference for small businesses.…”