McCarthy lauds House’s success in curbing burdensome regulations

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said this week that Congress will continue to restrict onerous regulations as it has done successfully under the GOP majority this term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Specifically, Rep. McCarthy cited actions taken during the 115th Congress under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

“Prior to 2017, the CRA had only been used once to repeal a regulation promulgated by the Executive Branch,” the congressman said on Oct. 23. “At the start of this Congress, Republicans used the CRA process to repeal 17 Obama-era regulations. Eliminating these regulations saved the economy $4.1 billion in costs.”

Such regulatory repeal through the CRA, he added, has fundamentally reformed the nation’s regulatory state.

“Together with the Trump administration, the regulatory relief on American businesses, farmers and ranchers, and workers has been unprecedented,” McCarthy pointed out.

Last week, for instance, the lawmaker said the Trump administration announced that regulatory reform efforts saved American families and businesses $23 billion in fiscal year 2018.

“In fact, for every one new regulation implemented, 12 were repealed,” said Rep. McCarthy. “When Republicans promised to drain the swamp, that meant taking undue power away from Washington bureaucrats who never face the voters and giving it back to the American people and their elected representatives.”

Rep. McCarthy highlighted more than a dozen regulations repealed by Congress this term and signed into law by President Trump, including the Stream Buffer Rule, H.J. Res. 38, which would have heaped unnecessary regulations on mines, according to his statement.

Another, the Social Security Service’s Second Amendment Restrictions, H.J. Res. 40, would have increased federal scrutiny of some four million disabled Americans who wanted to buy firearms, while the Federal Contracts Blacklisting Rule, H.J. Res. 37, would have blocked businesses accused of violating labor laws from federal contracts before they’ve had their day in court.

“Congress will continue to defend Americans from harmful regulations,” Rep. McCarthy said.