Lankford: We Need A Regulatory Process of the People And By the People
We need a regulatory process of the people and by the people
By U.S. SEN. JAMES LANKFORD
Many Oklahomans know the cost of basic items such as food, insurance, banking and consumer goods continues to rise, but some might not realize many of the cost increases are directly connected to new regulatory costs passed on to consumers. The federal government is eager to regulate every action of our lives, but the result of this accelerating federal regulatory activity is not good for our collective bottom line.
The recent national Gross Domestic Product announcement of a measly 1.5 percent growth for the third quarter shows that the American economy is still sluggish. The rate of regulations has something to do with this. The Obama administration is on a record pace for creating new regulation. Most Americans don’t follow federal agency actions or the Federal Register, so the pace of regulation is going largely unnoticed.
The rule-making process often occurs quietly in Washington. For example, there were nearly 51 new regulations created for every law passed in 2013. Specifically, 72 laws were passed and 3,659 rules were issued, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.