Harned testified at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform hearing, which was reviewing the regulatory actions of the Obama administration. The specific focus of the subcommittee was on the activities of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which has final review over all impending regulations. The OIRA is a branch of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

"OIRA is not performing the rigorous independent analysis needed to ensure that the proposed benefits of a new rule truly outweigh the negative economic impacts," she said. "They are supposed to make sure that the agencies are doing their homework, but instead they just seem to be acting as a rubber stamp right now."

She cited two examples in specific of how government agencies recently failed to consider the harm done to small businesses by regulations.

One was the "waters of the United States regulation," promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, which was pushed forward despite objections from the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. One of the objections from the Office of Advocacy was that the EPA and Army Corps had refused to conduct a required Regulatory Flexibility Act study.

The other was the recent Department of Labor rule that would more than double the salary threshold for required overtime pay. According to the NFIB, that rule would be particularly expensive for small businesses in small and rural markets, where cost of living and average wages tend to be lower.

Harned also testified about the NFIB's concern over a trend for agencies to push new policies forward that are even outside of the regulatory process, called "subregulatory" activities.