On the recordMarch 6, 2014
5\1/2\ years after the financial crisis struck in 2008, America remains in a jobs recession. Millions of Americans would call it a jobs depression. The RAPID Act responds to America's urgent need for new jobs with critical help. According to testimony received by the Regulatory Reform Subcommittee, the RAPID Act would help to stimulate the creation of 3 million jobs. In an economy in which the labor force participation rate has reached record lows, there is little more urgent jobs legislation that Congress could pass than the RAPID Act. The jobs the RAPID Act would create, moreover, are high-wage, highly- skilled construction jobs. This is not just sure-fire legislation to create millions of jobs; it is sure-fire legislation to create higher wages for hardworking Americans. Why do we need legislation to create these jobs? The reason is simple. Since before the financial crisis began and up to this day, the Federal Government's outdated and overly burdensome environmental review process has kept legions of jobs and workers waiting too long for approval from Federal bureaucrats. The United States now ranks a dismal 34th in the world in the procedures, time, and costs needed to obtain governmental approval of new construction permits. The heart of the problem lies with delay in the completion of reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, commonly known as NEPA.…





