In a new op-ed penned by Senator Paul in the Washington Times this morning, he shows how regulations put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violate property rights, infringe on individual liberty, and are costly to the economy.
Since its creation in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency has done more harm than good. EPA regulations cost more than 5 percent of our annual gross domestic product - the equivalent of the costs of defense and homeland security combined. Since EPA regulations have expanded, unemployment in America has increased by 33 percent. This abuse of power by the implementation of regulations infringes upon our basic constitutional rights.
There have been too frequent reports of individual rights being violated by abusive and power-hungry EPA bureaucrats. These regulations have hampered landowners’ ability to manage their private property as they please and have impaired job creation. Americans are suffering from the overreach of regulatory agencies such as the EPA.
So what's the solution?
One of the first bills Senator Paul introduced was S. 299, the REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act).
Senator Paul describes the bill as an act "designed to increase accountability in the federal regulatory process. By opening the regulatory process to public scrutiny, government agencies will be held accountable by all American citizens."
The Senate bill currently has 28 bipartisan cosponsors and the House companion legislation H.R. 10 has 159. This common sense reform needs implemented to protect Americans from an out-of-control federal regulatory regime.
If you feel the executive branch bureaucracies have overstepped their bounds by "ruling by decree," sign Campaign for Liberty's petition in support of the REINS Act!
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