Jason Chaffetz: “Last Congress, the ALERT Act--which is part of this bill now--passed the House twice with bipartisan support. Put…”

“Last Congress, the ALERT Act--which is part of this bill now--passed the House twice with bipartisan support. Put simply, the ALERT Act provides regulatory transparency requiring Federal agencies to provide monthly updates on regulation expected to be implemented in the next year. That shouldn't be controversial. As the bill's author, Mr. Ratcliffe, indicated, transparency should not be a heavy lift. That is what we are trying to provide. But that transparency is lacking. If you talk to small businesses and large businesses, you talk to citizens, you talk to advocacy groups, they will all tell you to one degree or another that this is not necessarily crystal clear. They have had this problem and challenge. The Obama administration has shown a troubling tendency to minimize the amount of public attention. The Fall 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations, a document disclosing regulations currently under consideration by Federal agencies, now contains more than 2,000 new regulations--2,000. By the administration's own estimates, 144 of those regulations are expected to cost the public more than $100 million each--each. Not just one-- each. You have got a universe of 2,000 regulations coming your way, America--144 of those are going to cost you about $100 million apiece, and you don't even know what they are. We don't necessarily know what they are. That is why we think there should be disclosure.…”