Jason Smith
U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) introduced legislation to rollback unnecessary regulations cleared the House on Wednesday on a bipartisan vote of 240-185.
The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act, H.R. 998, would establish a commission of individuals impacted by federal regulations to help identify and repeal those found to be duplicative, burdensome, costly or out-of-date.
“This bill gives a voice to private sector citizens, farmers, families and businesses impacted by Washington regulations,” Smith said. “The SCRUB Act will give the president the list of those regulations holding back private sector investment, growth and hiring. It will help shrink the size of government and get it off the backs of our farmers in Missouri so that they can do what they do best — tend to their land and their family.”
U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) said he wrote to then President-elect Trump last year requesting the formation of a regulatory relief task force to address overly burdensome regulation from federal agencies.
“I am pleased that this administration is showing an appetite for eliminating bad regulatory policy and performing cost-benefit analyses for new rules and regulations,” Hill said. “We need a task force or commission to help better assess the problem and keep Congress engaged with the administration on the topic of regulatory reform. The SCRUB Act creates the type of task force that can be useful in stopping the debilitating effects bad regulatory policy has on creating a healthier economy.”
The total financial cost of all federal regulations totals nearly $2 trillion, or approximately $15,000 per household, according to an independent analysis.
“The days of the Washington regulatory machine are numbered,” Smith said. “With President Trump in the Oval Office, bureaucrats will be taking a back seat to the priorities of the American worker.”