Another Red Tape Rollback Victory

Press Release

Today the Environmental Protection Agency tabled a burdensome, job-destroying anti-smog regulation. Rep. Todd Rokita responded with this statement:

"The EPA's retreat on National Ambient Air Quality Standards is an important victory in the battle against the Obama administration's job-destroying regulatory agenda. This proposed anti-smog rule would have put millions of jobs in jeopardy and driven small companies out of business while shipping American jobs overseas,"Rokita said.

If implemented, this rule would have been devastating to America's manufacturing and agriculture community, adding an additional $90 billion a year in new costs by EPA estimates, which are undoubtedly low. This rule would have been so burdensome that even Grand Canyon National Park could have been found in violation. The decision ends consideration of the rule until 2013.

"In May I partnered with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce to launch Red Tape Rollback, an initiative to prevent and repeal these types of unnecessary regulations. This is one important victory in a long battle. Rolling back the miles of red tape punishing America's job creators will not be an easy fight, but it is a necessary fight critical to reviving our economy and creating a brighter future for all Americans,"Rokita said.

Beginning this month, the House will take up an ambitious regulatory reform agenda, which included legislation to block the implementation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards had the administration chosen to move forward. Among the bills to be voted on in the House are eight bills that have been identified by Indiana businesses, through the Red Tape Rollback initiative, as high priority reforms.

* Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, H.R. 2587, prevents the National Labor Relations Board from restricting where an employer can create jobs
* Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act, H.R. 2401, requires the EPA to do an economic analysis for EPA rules and also delays utility MACT rules.
* EPA Regulatory Relief Act, H.R. 2250, provides additional time for the EPA to issue achievable standards for boilers, process heaters, and incinerators
* Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, H.R. 2273, allows states to regulate coal ash rather than federal bureaucrats
* Farm Dust Regulations Prevention Act, H.R. 1633, protects American farmers and jobs by prohibiting the EPA from revising anti-smog standards for a year.
* Grandfathered Health Plans -- The Obama administration is going back on their previous statement that those who liked their health care plan could keep it. Far fewer employer health plans will be grandfathered in to Obamacare. My committee of Education and Workforce Development plans to work on legislation to repeal this Obamacare restriction.
* NLRB Ambush Elections -- the NLRB proposed a rule that would alter union election procedures by not giving employers or employees enough time to react to a unionization vote. This creates tremendous uncertainty for private employers. Again, the Education & Workforce Development committee is working to create legislation to reign in the NLRB's overzealous practices in union elections.

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