Letter Supporting Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012”

The Honorable Lamar Smith
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Conyers:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, strongly supports the Manager’s Amendment expected to be offered by Rep. Griffin to H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012,” which would clarify the circumstances under which the largest, most costly new regulations would be prevented from going final and harming our economy, and would expand the situations where the prohibitions of the bill may be waived by the President or Congress. This Manager’s Amendment would also clarify that small businesses and other adversely affected parties may seek judicial review against a regulatory action taken in violation of the bill.

The Chamber believes that excessive regulatory burdens are not compatible with economic prosperity or job creation. This legislation would allow the thousands of minor, noncontroversial regulations that “keep the lights on” to move forward, while placing an important check on the relatively small number of economically significant regulations that impact the business community’s ability to compete. It would also provide judicial review so that agencies can be held accountable if they fail to comply with the requirements of this bill.

The Chamber looks forward to working with the House Committee on the Judiciary to make the regulatory process more reasonable.

Sincerely,

R. Bruce Josten

cc: Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary

Read the Letter: 

120319_ManagersAmendment_HR4078_RegulatoryFreezeforJobsActof2012_Smith_Conyers.pdf