Job creation touted by Senator Pryor

U.S. Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Rob Portman (R-OH) today welcomed the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011, which they introduced in September with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and U.S. Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN), to significantly reform the federal regulatory process and reduce unnecessary burdens on job creators. The bipartisan bill passed by a vote of 253-167.

“We need a regulatory system that promotes economic growth, innovation, and job creation,” Pryor said. “The Regulatory Accountability Act will help prevent overly burdensome and drawn-out regulations from interfering with our nation’s prosperity. I’m pleased the House has passed this legislation, and I’m hopeful the Senate will do the same to ensure these decisions can be made cheaper, better, and faster.”

“I am pleased that the House has passed the Regulatory Accountability Act, the first bipartisan, bicameral effort in more than a decade to restore balance to a regulatory system that too often imposes unnecessary costs on employers, workers, and consumers,” said Portman. “When I visit a factory or small business in Ohio, a complaint I often hear from employers is that the current regulatory environment limits their ability to create jobs and invest in their companies. This legislation will reduce regulatory burdens by building economic reality-checks into every step of the regulatory process. I hope the Senate will quickly take up this measure to help spur job creation and investment in America.”

For decades, presidents of both parties have issued executive orders to produce more sensible, less burdensome regulations. This bill makes the principles of those bipartisan directives permanent, enforceable, and applicable to all regulatory agencies, including independent agencies. The Act also requires agencies to tailor new regulations to impose the least cost necessary to achieve policy goals set out by Congress. Finally, the bill requires agencies to hold formal hearings to test the assumptions and evidence on which the costliest new rules are based.

The Regulatory Accountability Act has received the strong endorsement of employers and small business groups representing virtually every sector of the U.S. economy.