Reins Act of 2013’’: Promoting Jobs, Growth and American Competitiveness
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‘‘REINS ACT OF 2013’’: PROMOTING JOBS, GROWTH AND AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REFORM, COMMERCIAL AND ANTITRUST LAW OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 367 MARCH 5, 2013 Serial No. 113–26 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 79–726 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan Wisconsin JERROLD NADLER, New York HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina ROBERT C. ‘‘BOBBY’’ SCOTT, Virginia LAMAR SMITH, Texas MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ZOE LOFGREN, California SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas DARRELL E. ISSA, California STEVE COHEN, Tennessee J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., STEVE KING, Iowa Georgia TRENT FRANKS, Arizona PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas JUDY CHU, California JIM JORDAN, Ohio TED DEUTCH, Florida TED POE, Texas LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah KAREN BASS, California TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana TREY GOWDY, South Carolina SUZAN DelBENE, Washington MARK AMODEI, Nevada JOE GARCIA, Florida RAU´ L LABRADOR, Idaho HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina DOUG COLLINS, Georgia RON DeSANTIS, FLORIDA KEITH ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania SHELLEY HUSBAND, Chief of Staff & General Counsel PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director & Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REFORM, COMMERCIAL AND ANTITRUST LAW SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama, Chairman BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas, Vice-Chairman DARRELL E. ISSA, California STEVE COHEN, Tennessee TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina Georgia DOUG COLLINS, Georgia SUZAN DelBENE, Washington KEITH ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania JOE GARCIA, Florida HAKEEM JEFFRIES, New York DANIEL FLORES, Chief Counsel JAMES PARK, Minority Counsel (II) C O N T E N T S MARCH 5, 2013 Page THE BILL H.R. 367, the ‘‘Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2013’’ .......................................................................................................... 6 OPENING STATEMENTS The Honorable Spencer Bachus, a Representative in Congress from the State of Alabama, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commer- cial and Antitrust Law ........................................................................................ 1 The Honorable Steve Cohen, a Representative in Congress from the State of Tennessee, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law .......................................................................... 27 WITNESSES James L. Gattuso, Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 33 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 35 Eric R. Claeys, Professor of Law, George Mason University Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 44 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 47 Ronald M. Levin, William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor of Law, Wash- ington University School of Law Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 63 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 65 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Material submitted by the Honorable Spencer Bachus, a Representative in Congress from the State of Alabama, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law ........................................ 3 Prepared Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, and Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Com- mercial and Antitrust Law .................................................................................. 28 Prepared Statement of the Honorable Henry C. (Hank) Johnson, Jr., a Rep- resentative in Congress from the State of Georgia, and Member, Sub- committee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law ................. 31 Prepared Statement of the Honorable Bob Goodlatte, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary ............................................................................................................... 77 APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD Material submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of Tennessee, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law ................................... 100 (III) IV Page Letter from the Honorable Kevin Cramer, a Representative in Congress from the State of North Dakota ................................................................................... 116 Prepared Statement of the Honorable Andy Barr, a Representative in Con- gress from the State of Kentucky ....................................................................... 118 Letter submitted by Kristina Butts, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association .............................................................. 119 Response to Questions for the Record from James L. Gattuso, Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation ...................................................................... 120 Response to Questions for the Record from Eric R. Claeys, Professor of Law, George Mason University .................................................................................... 122 Response to Questions for the Record from Ronald M. Levin, William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law .................................................................................................................... 127 OFFICIAL HEARING RECORD MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD BUT NOT REPRINTED Congressional Research Service Report titled REINS Act: Number and Types of ‘‘Major Rules’’ in Recent Years, submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, a Rep- resentative in Congress from the State of Tennessee, and Ranking Member, Sub- committee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. This report is available at the Subcommittee and can also be accessed at: http://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/UploadedFiles/ 110830lcrslmajorrules.pdf ‘‘REINS ACT OF 2013’’: PROMOTING JOBS, GROWTH AND AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATORY REFORM, COMMERCIAL AND ANTITRUST LAW COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 11:32 a.m., in room 2237, Rayburn Office Building, the Honorable Spencer Bachus, (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Bachus, Goodlatte, Farenthold, Marino, Collins, Rothfus, Cohen, Johnson, DelBene, Garcia and Jeffries. Staff present: (Majority) Daniel Flores, Chief Counsel; Ashley Lewis, Clerk; Dave Lazar, Clerk; (Minority) James Park, Minority Counsel; Susan Jensen, Counsel. Mr. BACHUS. The Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commer- cial and Antitrust Law hearing will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recesses of the Committee at any time. We welcome all of our witnesses today. The Chair recognizes himself for the purposes of an opening statement. Regulations help to implement policies Congress has established by statute. When issued, they should be reasonable, provide clear rules of the road for businesses, and benefit the public more than it hurts them. Today’s regulatory system fails the test. The cost it imposes and the uncertainty it creates are choking America’s econ- omy and preventing the recovery of American jobs, growth, and global competitiveness. In its first term, the Administration imposed far more major reg- ulations at a far greater cost than the preceding Administration. Just this December, the Obama administration revealed that it has 2,387 regulatory actions in its current agenda, and the White House admits that at least 128 of these regulations will have an impact on the economy of $100 million or more. According to the American Action Forum, the cost of this current agenda includes $123 billion in planned regulations. These regulations would add another 13 million man-hours in just paperwork alone. The Small Business Administration has confirmed that small businesses pay a disproportionate share of this regulatory burden. (1) 2 Indeed, the cost of regulatory compliance has been translated to about $11,000 per worker. Small businesses generate most of the new jobs in our economy; in fact, somewhere