WASHINGTON, D.C. Ohio and West Virginia representatives Thursday voted for a bill requiring federal agencies to assess the economic impact of their proposed rules.
House Resolution 527, the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011, was adopted in the House of Representatives 263 to 159 opposed. West Virginia's three congressmen, Rep. David McKinley, R-1st, Rep. Shelley Capito, R-2nd and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-3rd, and Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6th, in Ohio, voted in favor.
"Small businesses employ approximately half of the American workforce," McKinley said. "Since January 2009, the Obama Administration has been persistent in implementing unnecessary and oppressive rules on the largest fraction of American job creators.."
The Congressional Budget Office predicts the economy will grow only by 2.7 percent in 2012, he said. Regulations put in place by President Obama have hampered any substantial economic growth and have eliminated potential American jobs, McKinley said.
"For far too long, congressional oversight has been absent from the regulation process, and this bill ensures that a common-sense solution will be implemented to force federal bureaucrats to be take responsibility for their actions," McKinley said.
