McCarthy: Over reaching federal regulations stifle business, an unnecessary cobweb of rules and regulations that onerous to small businesses

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his words:

 "One of the formative experiences in my life was starting Kevin O’s Deli – being the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, waiting on tables, delivering sandwiches, and making sandwiches on the 'If I started Subway today, Subway would not exist.' His reason?  Excessive government regulations.

counter that I built with my dad in our garage. I often joke that it was the Subway before there was Subway. Recently, however, the CEO of the actual Subway Restaurant franchise, Fred DeLuca, made headlines when he proclaimed that,

 "At a time when our number one priority should be encouraging job creation and growing our economy, unelected bureaucrats in Washington are busy writing new regulations that suit their agendas at the expense of hardworking Americans. The most obvious example is Obamacare which we need to repeal and replace.  With its over 13,000 pages of regulations (so far), this law has already begun to prompt layoffs and reduced work hours, while raising health care premiums for families and making it more difficult for patients to keep the doctors they trust. But there are countless other less publicized regulations that impose equally unnecessary costs on you and me.

 "That is why I worked this past week in Congress to pass commonsense measures to stop government abuse and overreach. We passed the “Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act” that will provide the American people with an annual report on the cost and performance of government programs, helping to bring greater transparency and accountability to Washington. We passed the most significant regulatory reform package of the past 60 years in part through the “ALERRT Act” that translates directly into a more competitive environment for our businesses and greater opportunities for our families. It requires the head of each federal agency to submit a monthly report for each rule they expect to propose or finalize during the upcoming year; requires agencies to look at the lowest cost rule making alternative that meets statutory objectives; requires advance notice of proposed major rule makings to increase public input; prevents agencies from proposing sue-and-settle decrees and settlements to the courts until parties affected by the proposed regulations can participate in settlement negotiations; and ensures that agencies fully analyze the effects of regulations on small businesses and consider ways to reduce unnecessarily burdensome rules.

  "And lastly, we passed legislation that will protect our First Amendment speech and assembly rights from the Obama Administration’s proposed IRS rule changes.   After the revelations last summer of IRS overreach against specific groups applying for tax-exempt status, no American should be targeted by the IRS based on his or her personal political views.

 "Time and time again - from my days of making sandwiches to my tenure as your elected representative - I have witnessed the adverse effects of burdensome regulations on American businesses and workers. By returning the federal government to its proper limited role, we can get Washington out of the way and make the American dream attainable for all.

McCarthy: President resorts to fear-based rhetoric, shows audacity by canceling White House tours instead of dealing with the real issues

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip and a Bakersfield Republican, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his own words"

 "The past few weeks, Americans endured continuous fear-based rhetoric where the White House tried to scare Americans instead of cutting wasteful Washington spending. Doubling down on this rhetoric, this week the President cancelled all self-guided tours of the White House.  It is astonishing that he would deny Americans who are visiting their capital the chance to see our historic building rather than focus on rooting out unnecessary spending in other parts of our Federal government. Unfortunately, we continue to see an Administration that governs with tactics of fear instead of finding ways to unite us as Americans and tackling the problems our country faces in a responsible and adult manner.  Washington has a spending problem and it must be addressed, not with gimmicks, but with real solutions.

 "The current federal debt today is $16.4 trillion, which is larger than the entire U.S. economy.  Wasteful government spending must be identified and cut to get our growing deficit and debt under control. As I've mentioned before, here are a few examples of spending that can immediately be cut:

·       $4 million – the annual budget of the IRS to operate a TV production studio;

·       $1.7 billion – to maintain federal property that is not in use or underutilized;

·       $9.8 billion – closing Medicaid loopholes;

·       $10 billion – the public health slush fund in Obamacare;

·       183 – the number of conference paid for by federal agencies; and

·       $100 million in EPA grants to foreign countries over the last 10 years.

 "So instead of cutting wasteful spending, this Administration continues the old liberal mantra – higher taxes that only take more money out of the pockets of hard working American families and small businesses.  Our economy needs a strong and vibrant private sector and more taxes is not the answer. Just look at the jobs report that came out today where more workers have stopped looking for work and the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer continued to increase.  We need to cut spending, reform our entitlement programs, and simplify our tax code to help spur economic growth and restore Americans’ confidence.

"Instead of fear and scare tactics, our nation needs leadership that inspires our greatness and unites us to tackle our country’s pressing challenges. This coming week, we will address one of our greatest challenges – our national debt -  as we map out a budget plan that will put us on a path to fiscal sanity.