Blake Farenthold: “I want to address, too, what my colleague from Houston, Texas, just said. I love clean air, clean water, safe working…”

“I want to address, too, what my colleague from Houston, Texas, just said. I love clean air, clean water, safe working places as much as she does; but we've got a government now that, instead of working with the people and with industry, is working against them. The trust in our government is at an all-time low. Scandal after scandal is plaguing the government. We have got to get people who are accountable in charge of those regulations, not unelected bureaucrats who are writing regulations that only in the history of the Review Act have been overturned one time. Ergonomic furniture was the only time that was able to work. What I want to talk about is the Constitution. The Constitution granted this body--the House of Representatives--and our colleagues across the Capitol, the Senate, the legislative power in this country to write laws and make rules that the American people must abide by. Now, for a variety of reasons, past Congresses have delegated this part. I mean, it makes sense. I don't know how many parts per billion of whatever substance in water is safe and what isn't. I don't know how many feet high a barrier needs to be to keep our workers safe. We've given this authority to our regulatory agencies. Yet, under this President in particular--and even under past Presidents--these agencies have seized that power and have written more and more burdensome regulations that go beyond the intent of this body.…”