Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, the amendment carves out of the REINS Act's congressional approval procedures regulations that the Office of Management and Budget determines will lead to net job creation. The danger in the amendment is the strong incentive it gives the OMB to manipulate its analysis of a major regulation's jobs impacts. Far too often, the OMB will be tempted to shade the analysis to skirt the bill's congressional approval requirement. In addition, regulations alleged to create net new jobs often do so by destroying real, existing jobs and creating new, hoped-for jobs associated with regulatory compliance. For example, some Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act rules will shut down existing power plants. The EPA and the OMB may attempt to justify that with claims that more new ``green'' jobs will be created as a result. In the end, that is just another way in which government picks the jobs winners and the jobs losers, and there is no guarantee that all of the new ``green'' jobs will ever actually exist. The REINS Act is not intended to force any particular outcome. It does not choose between clean air and dirty air. It does not choose between new jobs and old jobs. Instead, the REINS Act chooses between two ways of making laws. It chooses the way the Framers intended, in which accountability for laws with major economic impacts rests with the Congress--the elected Representatives of the people.…”