David Cicilline

I am proud to represent a vibrant Cuban community in the State of Rhode Island.

And now they've proposed a budget that would decimate the development and diplomatic budget by up to 22 percent.

Over the past 2 years the Biden Administration has reestablished U.S. leadership on the global stage, deepening our strategic alliances and advancing our values and interests.

By trying to abolish the ATF, the Agency responsible for implementing regulations to curb this violence and carnage.

We cannot accept this as normal.

Gun violence is now the leading cause of death in children and teens in this country.

The reality is every day in this country, 120 people are killed by gun violence.

The presence of a firearm makes an abuser five times more likely to take a partner's life than if no firearm was present.

The ATF has taken action to limit ghost guns. We passed my bill to ban ghost guns as part of the Protect Our Kids Act.

If they are trying to overthrow the government, they ought to be held to the same standard.

We cannot place companies' greed over public and worker safety and the cleanliness of our air, water, and land.

When we do not properly regulate, sometimes it means that trains carrying dangerous chemicals can derail in our communities, putting thousands of people at risk.

Regulations ensure that our air is safe to breathe, our water is safe to drink, our food is safe to eat.

Congress already has the power to oversee agency rulemaking, and agencies can only exercise authority that we grant them.

This is nothing more than a congressional power grab that will lead to even more deregulation that puts people at risk.

Certainly, in a negative way. We should be listening to those workers.

Under the REINS Act, railroads would have even more leeway to influence rules like this one.

Would it endanger the lives of the American people if we were to second-guess agency decisionmaking?

Regulations protect people in the first place. They help keep disasters like East Palestine from happening.

Agencies need those regulations to then carry out their work, whether that's investigatory work or enforcement work.

They're hired in these agencies of the Federal Government because they bring with them life-saving training and science and expertise that we don't have as Members of Congress.

The notion of like all they know about is the regulatory process, which is what you say here, that's exaggerated.

It's important to remember why we have regulations in the first place.

The goal of this legislation, quite simply, is to stop the regulatory process in its tracks, regardless of its impact on public health and safety.

The REINS Act would grind the gears of rulemaking to a halt by requiring all major rules to be affirmatively approved by both Chambers of Congress.