Congressman Smith Applauds Passage of the Regulatory Accountability Act

I applaud House passage of H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act. I first introduced the bill in 2011 during my time as House Judiciary Committee chairman and was a lead sponsor when the House passed it in the 113th Congress.

This White House has repeatedly bypassed Congress and the American people to pursue its extreme and aggressive regulatory agenda. The fact that the same White House is threatening to veto the Regulatory Accountability Act tells me we must be doing something right.

We have been working to rein in overreaching regulations and pass this common-sense legislation since my time as House Judiciary Committee Chairman in 2011. I applaud its passage today and hope that the Senate will swiftly pass it as well.

The White House has issued a veto threat against the bill, which would hold federal agencies accountable for implementing laws in the least burdensome and least costly manner for the taxpayer. Americans currently face more than $3 trillion from federal taxation and regulation, or approximately thirty percent of the average American household income in 2013.

The legislation would:

• Require agencies to choose the lowest cost rulemaking alternative that meets statutory objectives.
• Improve public outreach and agency fact-finding to identify better, more efficient regulatory alternatives.
• Require agencies to use the best reasonably obtainable science.
• Provide on-the-record but streamlined administrative hearings in the highest-impact rulemakings—those that impose $1 billion or more in annual costs—so interested parties can subject critical evidence to cross-examination.
• Require advance notice of proposed major rulemakings to increase public input before costly agency positions are proposed and entrenched.
• Strengthen judicial review of new agency regulations to make sure the federal courts can enforce these requirements.