Lamar Smith: “America's economic recovery remains sluggish, with the unemployment rate still at 9 percent. Jobs are the key to…”

“America's economic recovery remains sluggish, with the unemployment rate still at 9 percent. Jobs are the key to economic recovery, and small businesses are the primary job creators in America. A study for the Small Business Administration found that regulations cost the American economy $1.75 trillion annually, or over $15,000 per household. Mr. Chairman, while job creators suffer under the weight of these regulations, Federal employees are visibly writing even more to implement the mandates of new laws like ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank. The same study also found that the cost of regulatory compliance is disproportionately higher for small businesses. This hurts their ability to create jobs for Americans. Last month a Gallup poll found that small business owners consider ``complying with government regulations'' as the ``most important problem'' they face. On February 8, 2011, I introduced H.R. 527, the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011, to provide urgently needed help to small businesses. Mr. Graves and Mr. Coble are original cosponsors along with the bill's 24 additional cosponsors. This bill primarily reinforces the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 and the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It only requires agencies to do what current law and common sense dictate that they should be doing.…”