That 4,257 in the headline looks like a made-up number but, it isn’t. It is the actual number of new regulatory actions underway at the moment. The number comes from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs web site. Speaker Boehner’s letter requesting information about these 4,257 regulatory actions comes as the Obama administration is publicly claiming that it is cutting red tape to save Americans money and reduce the government’s footprint. That claim does not square up very well with the fact that the administration has 4,257 new regulatory actions in the works. And of that staggering number, more than 200 may have an impact of $100 million or more.
A simple scan of the Obama Administration’s current regulatory agenda indicates that the Administration currently has 4,257 new regulatory actions in the works, of which at least 219 will have an economic impact of $100 million or more. That is an increase of nearly 15 percent over last year, when a similar search showed 191 new economically-significant regulatory actions by the Administration to be in the works. Americans know from the Administration’s own statements that some of these new economically-significant regulations will have an economic impact of tens of billions of dollars. But how many, exactly? The Administration hasn’t said.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today sent a letter to President Obama noting the scheduled increase in regulatory action by the Administration and asking that the White House provide Congress with a list of all of the regulatory actions it plans that would have an economic impact of $1 billion or more. The Speaker formally requested that the White House provide this information before Congress returns this fall, when the House is scheduled to resume work on legislation promised in the Pledge to America that would require congressional approval for any new regulatory action that is projected to have a significant impact on job creation.
When you consider the NLRB’s actions, the EPA’s new rules that threaten to force power plant shutdowns leading to blackouts, the oil permitorium, ObamaCare, etc, that legislation is long overdue. These are just the headline-generating regulations being imposed, out of the literally 4,257 new regulations impacting the US economy, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. According to Boehner’s letter, just one of the EPA’s new rules will cost $90 billion per year. The regulatory state has come to dominate the US economy in the past couple of years. It’s little wonder, then, that unemployment remains high.
In his letter to the president, Speaker Boehner notes that he sought similar information on regulations from the Obama administration last August, but the administration didn’t bother to respond.
These people are going to make sure I never,ever get another job.
wasn’t there a scene in the Atlas Shrugs novel where the looters were smugly proud that they managed to gum up the entire system so that everyone would be a lawbreaker? As I recall the whole purpose of that was to set everyone up so that they could pick the winners and losers….
or was that the news yesterday? I get so confused at the similarities…
“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against–then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted–and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.”
Dr. Ferris to Hank Reardon, Atlas Shrugged: Part II, Chapter 3, “White Blackmail”
One can be certain that the costs of all of these new regulations will result in Obama using them to justify demanding further debt ceiling increases. Count on it.
For a party that claims to be for “the working people,” they’re sure making it hard on employers.
Love me, love my employer. Screw over my employer and you could cost me my job.
All Obama has left is regulatory measures & his executive orders; both are questionable & highly dubious. It reflects Obama’s inability to lead since he NEEDS super-majorities in the House & Senate to pass his Marxist legislation such as ObamaCare, Porkulus, & Frank-Dodd.
We need a new POTUS for 2012 to reverse all of the Obama mess.
Shut up and get to work, Boehner. Do not waste your time talking to this administration. Just pass a bill stripping regulatory powers from the Executive branch Departments and Agencies. Less talk; More do.
Sorry, Marc, I disagree. Boehner used this opportunity to publicize and make real the mind-blowing number of regs this Prez and his posse are busy promulgating.
In another moment, I’ll be forwarding that incredible number to business colleagues to help focus their minds on the implications for them and their businesses.
There’s nothing like a concrete number, particularly one of such magnitude, to help business owners grasp the elusive concept: This president is out to crush us!
Before you ‘pass along’ the numbers you might want to read the following:
http://reason.com/archives/2008/12/10/bushs-regulatory-kiss-off
Of course, I would welcome your being able to refute the data.
You’re right on point Marc! No Executive regulation can be enacted but for congressional authroity granted it to do so. The ONLY ‘constitutional authority’ of the Exectuive Branch is to carry out and enforce the laws enacted by the congress and as delegated directly by the constitution.
But keep in mind also, that not a ‘single piece’ of regulatory policy is born in the Executive Branch or in Congress but rather, through some private sector special interest group.
This administration of internationalist subversives is doing an excellent job at destroying the system from within.
If they will have another five years they will be able to impose another…16,000 or 17,000 new regulations…
You know what you need to do in November 2012…