James Lankford

So tell me the process of how you evaluated, for instance, that site, other sites, things that were internal, to make the decision we are going to turn this off and not do this, we are going to turn in a different direction?

Well, it is simple. We have to be able to re-establish that and to be able to find a clear way to be able to do it, because at this point we are--my belief, we are clearly out of balance.

We are still a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

But here is the challenge when you are dealing with a--I will go back to a manufacturing location as well. They have EPA regulations, they have OSHA regulations, they may have FDA regulations, they have USDA regulations, Department of…

So can I drop the bomb into the middle of this conversation, then?

Part of our issue is not just that it is in a shoebox; it is that it is in a shoebox in a closet that no one knows where it is.

My answer to things like that is, well, when that occurs and it is that severe, that becomes a question where Congress ought to step in and make things happen.

So but you called it, if I remember, a 'partial list.'

Nor should they have to be able to have the staff to manage that, based on the number of regs that are coming on them.

But it is every President for the last 20-some-odd years has done 12866.

Because I am not asking, did they make the right decision? I am asking, did they do the process, and should there be an ability to have judicial review if they did not complete the process?

OK, so how does that happen?

And they are all going to be bound by that.

And it is the challenge that I have that I bring the illustration up: If you have a new employee at a university, you have a new employee at a manufacturing location, the previous employer retired, died, fired, whatever it may be; new…

But that is just significant guidance you are highlighting. Is that correct?

I want to just put a check on that to say it is not really a safe harbor, because even they say they are not bound by No Action Letters.

We get calls all the time from businesses and from individuals that say, we have this overwhelming number of guidance documents and new regs that are coming down on us; we have limited resources as well.

I think Members from both sides of the aisle could agree on this.

Thank you. You may be seated. Let the record reflect all the witnesses answered in the affirmative.

What are we going to do to actually get to the point where we feel comfortable here that guidance is not used as a shortcut to reinvent or to restate current regulation in a way that is inconsistent with either the law or inconsistent with…

The hearing record will remain open until 12 p.m. tomorrow, June 29, 2016, for the submission of statements and questions for the record.

Would you anticipate there is a short list of undone that in the hand-off...

Well, I would say a lot of the conversation both about management and about local decisionmaking, and all those things that we have discussed multiple times in other hearings here, all ring true no matter who I talk to in whichever agency.

I do not mind paying taxes. I just do not want you to waste my money.

In your country you take for granted that every 4 years you will have an election.