The U.S. regulatory system is broken. This was highlighted recently by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, in prepared remarks to the Joint Committee meeting of the Environment, Technology, & Regulatory Affairs Division of the Chamber, as he urgent need to fix it.
"Our regulatory system is increasingly opaque and driven by political agendas," Donohue said. "It lacks basic accountability. It often employs flawed data and questionable science. It ignores congressional intent and too often prevents citizens from weighing in on proposed rules in any meaningful way."
These excessively costly regulations, which the Congressional Budget Office reports as now exceeding $2 trillion a year, with approximately $200 billion more being added each year, have impacts on jobs, on small businesses, and on the ability to compete around the world, according to Donohue.
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He identified four principles for reform to fix the current system and lead to greater growth, more jobs, and better government. Those principles are: restore accountability, ensure greater transparency, allow participation by stakeholders, and guarantee a safe but swift permitting process.
"It's time to restore accountability, public participation, and efficiency to our regulatory system and our government, and to unleash the power of businesses large and small to create jobs and growth without unjustified, unnecessary, and overly burdensome rules," said Donohue. "This is what our government reform agenda is all about, and it begins by modernizing what has become a virtual fourth branch of the American government – the regulatory branch."
The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy has faulted a number of agencies for failing to measure the impact of regulations on small businesses, as required by law, he said. "This is important, because the regulatory costs for companies with fewer than 20 workers are 36 percent higher per employee than they are for bigger firms."
Donohue called on Congress to reclaim its authority and to exercise rigorous oversight of federal agencies, and on the agencies themselves to follow both the letter and the spirit of the law.
Additionally, he called for greater transparency in the regulatory process by eliminating sue-and-settle agreements, and requiring agencies to fully disclose information and data used in rulemaking.
Donohue also stated that, for the regulatory system to work properly, regulators must allow meaningful participation by stakeholders and citizens, informing the public of pending regulatory decisions on high-impact rules earlier in the process, sharing data and economic models, and allowing adequate time for comments.
Finally, Donohue focused on permitting, proposing that the permitting process can and should be both swift and safe.
"There is a larger discussion we need to have, and it's one that should unite Americans and their competing interests, not divide them," said Donohue. "It's the compelling need to reform the regulatory process itself, not for the purpose of steering it to specific outcomes, but to ensure that we have rules that really work, that are fair to all, that meet the test of common sense, and that are compatible with our principles of economic freedom and our strong desire for jobs and growth."
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