Press Releases

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015 (REINS), by a vote of 243-165. H.R. 427 would require Congress to approve any regulatory rule that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) deems will produce more than $100 million or more in impacts on the U.S. economy.

Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reported that in 2014, 3,554 rules were issued by federal agencies, and the compliance and economic costs of federal government regulations is $1.88 trillion annually—more than $14,900 per household in America, and according to American Action Forum, a Washington, D.C. based think tank, Dodd-Frank rules, alone, could reduce economic growth by $895 billion in the next ten years.

Under current law, these rules do not require Congressional approval before they may be implemented by the executive. Following passage of the bill, Congressman French Hill released the below statement:

“The regulatory costs of the Obama Administration’s major rules are hurting Arkansas’s small businesses and manufacturers. Today’s bill provides Congress, not unelected officials, with the authority to eliminate these major rules before they harm our economy. This ensures more accountability and much-needed transparency to the rule-making process, while giving local businesses the relief they need from harmful and unnecessary regulations.”

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