Regulatory Onslaught Threatens to Destroy Jobs, Drive Up Gas Prices

Regulatory Onslaught Threatens to Destroy Jobs, Drive Up Gas Prices

Regulatory Onslaught Threatens to Destroy Jobs, Drive Up Gas Prices

Congressman John Boehner
May 17, 2011

Miles of red tape and excessive government regulations – issued by unelected bureaucrats without approval from Congress – are creating havoc and uncertainty for job creators across the country. For example, several recent regulatory actions by the Obama Administration threaten to destroy American jobs by:

Blocking An American Company from Building a New Plant: The Obama Administrations National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is trying to block Boeing from building airplanes in a non-union facility in South Carolina, says the Washington Examiner. Economists Stephen Moore and Art Laffer say this is the first time a federal agency has intervened to tell an American company where it can and cannot operate a plant within the U.S. The move will set a precedent that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide, reports the Examiner.

Driving Up the Price of Gasoline on Families & Small Businesses: The EPAs attempt to unilaterally impose a cap and trade-style national energy tax would drive up the price of gas, send jobs overseas, and make it harder for small businesses to hire new workers, says the House Energy & Commerce Committee. And under the Obama Administrations de facto energy moratorium, domestic oil production has dropped by 16 percent versus projected levels. Less energy production means higher prices and higher prices mean fewer jobs.

Imposing a Government Takeover of the Internet: The House passed H.J.Res.37 to stop the FCC from imposing so-called net neutrality regulations, but the threat remains. A study by New York Law School’s Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute said net neutrality regulations could cost at least 100,000 to 200,000 jobs per year over the next five years and place the nation’s economy at even greater risk. James Gattuso with the Heritage Foundation says they would be bad news not just for Web surfers but also for the economy as a whole.

Last year alone, 3,752 new rules hit the books — equivalent to a new regulation coming into effect every 2 hours and 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, says the Competitive Enterprise Institute. And [a]n additional 4,225 regulations are at various stages of the pipeline right now (hundreds are the result of ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank alone).

Many of these regulations have an impact on the economy of $100 million or more a significant sum that can stifle job creation and innovation, and create more economic uncertainty.

Consistent with the Pledge to America, House Republicans are taking action on several fronts through Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) REINS Act (which Congressman Boehner says requires congressional approval of any new government rule with an estimated economic cost of $100 million or more), the American Energy Initiative, and others to remove government barriers to private-sector job growth. Republicans have even succeeded in forcing the Democrat-run Senate and White House to repeal ObamaCares job-destroying 1099 small business mandate. But theres a lot more to do.