Job Creators To Lawmakers: Obama Red Tape A Job Killer – OpEd
By Jim Kouri
A U.S. congressional report released on Friday documents the “strangling effect of red tape on job creation,” and claims that job creators across the country have described problems with these Obama administration regulations that prevent them from adding new jobs into the U.S. economy.
Following two previous reports on government regulation in the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee renewed its efforts to examine burdensome and job-stifling federal laws and regulations.
The report documents what the Committee heard — namely that while some regulatory improvements have taken place, many other examples of job killing red tape have not been addressed.
The report also notes what job creation experts say are some of the newest regulatory threats to job creation, according to Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA).
“Last week’s unemployment numbers remained stuck at unacceptably high levels. This reflects the poor climate for businesses that currently exists under the Obama Administration,” said Rep. Issa.
“Our government can create the environment for the private sector to grow jobs. But under this administration, it won’t. Small businesses, and not the government, are the primary driver of job creation in this country. This report explains why job creators say they are struggling to put Americans back to work under an ever increasing regulatory burden,” Issa stated.
For example, from 2010 to 2011, the number of final rules issued by federal agencies rose from 3,573 to 3,807—a 6.5 percent increase. During that same time frame, the number of proposed rules increased 18.8 percent. The published regulatory burden for 2012 could exceed $105 billion, according to the American Action Forum, headed by a former director of the Congressional Budget Office.
In the past decade, the number of economically significant rules in the pipeline — those that could cost $100 million or more annually — has increased by more than 137 percent, according to the report.
Another expected job-killer will be the fully-implemented Obamacare, which will add more regulations, more taxes and more financial costs for businesses just to survive, according to political strategist Michael S. Baker.
“If the law covers businesses that employ over 50 workers, it’s not difficult to believe employers will only have 48 or 49 employees in order to avoid the added expenses for compliance,” said Baker.
