House moves forward on commission to repeal rules

The House passed a GOP-backed bill Wednesday that would create a bipartisan commission to review and identify rules to repeal.

The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act passed along party lines, 240-185.

While debating the bill on the floor Tuesday, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) said Congress must take steps to clean up regulatory schemes that have “run amok.”  

{mosads}“It is time we identify and abolish those regulations that are pointless, those that prevent people from doing their jobs, and those that are inefficient and ineffective,” he said.

President Trump would appoint, and the Senate would confirm, nine members to serve five-year terms to the proposed commission. The House Speaker and minority and majority leaders would be tasked with providing Trump with a list of possible candidates.

Opponents of the legislation claim creating the commission will cost taxpayers $30 million, only to dismantle long-established, science-based public health and safety protections. They also argue against giving such a panel unlimited subpoena power.

“Along with bills that have already come to the House floor under this Republican Congress, as well as Donald Trump’s executive actions mandating a regulatory freeze, this legislation demonstrates a continued attack on standards set in place to protect American families,” Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) said.

Proponents argue that a commission is needed to identify nonsensical regulations being enforced at the expense of innovators and job creators.

“A case in point: Did you know that trains have to have an ‘F’ painted on the front of them so that people can tell which end is the front?” Collins asked. 

“I don’t know about you, but I believe Americans can tell the front from the back of a train. We have got to identify existing business regulations like this that are outdated and simply don’t make sense anymore and start taking steps to repeal them.”  

The House voted down Democratic amendments that would have exempted rules protecting student loan borrowers, rules relating to the enforcement of the Clean Air Act, rules that impact the federal government’s relationship with tribal communities and another that protects whistleblowers. 

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) argued that the commission will be duplicating work already done by agencies, saying the commission would focus on the cost of rules instead of their benefits. 

“If there is any doubt about it, one needs to look no further than the Cut-Go provision,” he said, which requires agencies to find existing rules to repeal before issuing a new rule to offset the costs. 

The bill’s sponsor, Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said the SCRUB Act mirrors and supports the president’s actions.

“We are simply putting the tools in place to support what President Trump has already started,” he said. Trump authored an executive order for the purpose of reducing regulations and controlling regulatory costs.”

Trump railed against regulations during his campaign and has already taken action to cut some. In his first week in office, the president signed an executive order requiring agencies to revoke two regulations for every new rule they want to issue.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to appoint regulatory watchdogs who will chew away at their rulemaking authority.