On the recordJanuary 13, 2015
I thank the chairman. Mr. Chairman, right now, we have the worst of both worlds: more regulation and less scrutiny. In looking at a recent 7-year period, the Government Accountability Office found that 35 percent of major rules were issued without the opportunity for public comment. The GAO also found a lack of responsiveness. In the case of one ObamaCare regulation--one--4,627 comments were received, but no responses were issued. Regulatory costs disproportionately hit small manufacturers, which incur regulatory costs of $34,671 per year, per employee--more than three times that of the average American economy. Our energy boom is a perfect example of failed regulatory policy. Oil and natural gas resources do not know Federal versus State boundaries, but it takes 10 times as long for the Federal Government to issue a permit as it does the States. As a result, oil and gas production is going up sharply on State lands and down on Federal lands. Finally, ObamaCare is an epicenter of red tape. In its first 4 years, ObamaCare's effects on small business amounted to $1.9 billion in regulatory costs and in 11.3 million hours of compliance. This amounts to a regulatory tax of 3 to 5 percent. Again, this is the cost of just one law's regulations. {time} 1545
