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House passes regulatory reform bills

The U.S. House has passed two far-reaching regulatory reform bills.

On Friday, the Regulatory Accountability Act passed on a vote of 253 to 167.  Among other things, it would require agencies to pursue earlier public outreach and improved scientific data before developing regulations.   

Minnesota Representative Colin Peterson, ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, was one of 19 Democrats who voted for the bill.

“In agriculture we have been dealing with innumerable problems that have been brought by regulations that are not properly vetted and seem to be for people that have a lack of understanding of exactly what’s going on in agriculture,” Peterson said.

“So this legislation gives us an overhaul … to make sure that we have more openness, more transparency, more accountability in these regulations. More time, more analysis.”

Peterson was quoted on Newsday.com. 

Another bill—the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act—passed Thursday on vote of 263 to 159. It would require agencies to step up efforts to identify costs that new regulations could impose on small businesses, write the regulations in ways that reduce costs, and increase input from small businesses in the process.  

A  Senate version of the accountability legislation has not yet emerged from committee. 

The White House has vowed to veto any such legislation, saying it would, quote, “impose unneeded and costly analytical and procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from performing their statutory responsibilities.”

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