Tom Latham Talks about the Need for Regulatory Reform and the Four Most Dangerous Words in Any Piece of Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC – Iowa Congressman Tom Latham — who worked as a farmer and small business owner before being elected to the House of Representatives and now serves as Chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee — appeared before a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society yesterday morning to discuss the need for regulatory reform in America and a bill he plans to introduce that would provide just that.
“The uncertainty out there is huge,” Latham stated, “But by far, the biggest problem that you hear from small business people is the fact that regulations are totally out of control. It is very, very destructive. You hear it all the time from any small business person. For small businesses today, it costs about $10,600 per employee to comply with the regulations that are out there. I stopped in at a local banker – at a medium-sized bank – just a few weeks ago, and he brought out two volumes about six inches high – each of them – of new compliance from the Dodd-Frank bill. And he basically says, ‘We’re either going have to merge or hire more people just to comply with all of this stuff that’s going on.’”
To help address these concerns and ease this uncertainty, Latham stated that he intends to introduce legislation to reduce the regulatory burden. Among other things, Latham said that his bill would not only require that a cost-benefit analysis be conducted on any new regulation that is proposed, but would also provide for a six month period for post-analysis review and feedback before the regulation is allowed to go into effect. Latham added that the bill would also create a BRAC-like commission to review and repeal onerous and out-of-date regulations, and require congressional approval of any new major regulation that is proposed.
“We have really ceded our responsibility constitutionally to the Administration,” Latham said. “The most dangerous words in any piece of legislation are, ‘The Secretary shall determine.’ That is a killer that basically gives the Administration a free hand to interpret what the intent of any legislation was, and to write regulations that fit their ideas about what should be going on in the private sector, rather than what the reality is. It’s very scary to see people in the Administration who have no experience in the real world who are writing regulations, have their own agenda, and really believe they are much smarter than anyone else. It is the biggest problem we have as far as job creation and getting this economy going.”
Latham noted that he has also introduced ‘The Less Government Act.’ Based on the Lean Six Sigma business concept, the bill would reform government by introducing private sector efficiency principles and initiatives to the federal bureaucracy. “Everybody understands we have to have services provided by the government,” Latham observed. “But why not do it in an efficient way that actually makes sense and gets the services out to the people without killing us as far as our debt?”
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.