Political Quotes

“I offer this amendment to address a longstanding problem: agencies not fully analyzing the effects of regulations on small businesses. Under the current Regulatory Flexibility Act, an agency may certify a rule if it expects that the rule will not have--and I am quoting the current law here--``a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.'' When an agency certifies a rule, it does not need to perform a full regulatory flexibility analysis. This provision makes sense because not every rule affects small businesses. Unfortunately, agencies appear to be abusing this provision. According to a recent study, agencies only prepared analyses for approximately 8 percent of rules finalized between 1996 and 2012. A recent example of this occurred with the controversial waters of United States rule. The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers certified that rule despite the significant and direct consequences for farmers, ranchers, and home builders. Most of those are small businesses. Although the Small Business Administration Chief Counsel for Advocacy sent a letter to the agencies stating that the certification was improper and urging them to withdraw the rule, the agencies ignored the Chief Counsel and proceeded to finalize it anyway.…”