U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) this week introduced the Protecting Jobs and Wages from Regulations Act of 2020, which he said would, if enacted into law, reform the federal regulatory process.
This, according to a press release that Burchett’s staff published on his website about the bill.
“Unelected federal bureaucrats often introduce regulations that do more harm than good for American workers and businesses,” Burchett said.
“Federal agencies need to justify why a proposed regulation is necessary and be transparent about its impacts on our economy. My legislation gives the public more information to assess regulations before going into effect.”
The Protecting Jobs and Wages from Regulations Act would require that all federal agencies disclose data regarding the impact a rule might have on jobs and wages. Federal agencies must also explain what problem the proposed rule seeks to address and allow the public the opportunity to comment on proposed rules, the press release said.
Burchett’s bill is part of the Republican Study Committee’s Government Efficiency, Accountability, and Reform (GEAR) task force. The GEAR task force recently introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at creating a more efficient federal government, according to the press release.
As The Tennessee Star reported last year, the federal regulatory apparatus imposed a roughly $14,600 “hidden tax” on American households in 2018, according to a report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
“That amounts to 20 percent of the average pretax income of $73,573, and 24 percent of the average expenditure budget of $60,060,” CEI’s Wayne Crews wrote in his annual Ten Thousand Commandments report that year.
In total, federal regulations cost the U.S. economy $1.9 trillion despite the Trump administration’s effort to roll back onerous regulations. Crews said his report was a conservative estimate of the true cost of regulations.
“The regulatory ‘tax’ exceeds every item in the household budget except housing,” Crews said.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
