Which 8 House Democrats Just Voted to Undermine Federal Regulators? by Liberty Equality Fraternity and TreesFollow

Today, the House just passed the so-called Regulatory Accountability Act, a bill that would require federal agencies to estimate the cost of any regulation they propose. Such requirements would burden an already slow regulatory process and would often be highly speculative at best.

The bill would also require agencies to hold public hearings for any rule expected to be costly, require them to submit an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 90 days prior to announcing any major rule, and allow regulations to be challenged in court before they are even finalized.

Public interest groups have spoken out strongly against the damage the bill would do to the regulatory process:

“The current rulemaking process is already plagued with lengthy delays, undue influence by regulated industries, and convoluted court challenges,” officials from Public Citizen and the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards said in a joint statement. “This bill would make each of these problems substantially worse.”

In a separate email, Public Citizen said that the legislation would force regulators to formulate “highly speculative estimates of all the indirect costs and benefits of proposed rules and do the same for any potential alternatives.”

“What counts and does not count as an indirect cost or a potential alternative?” the letter asked, saying that the answer depends on “industry’s imagination.”

“Federal agencies usually take years to issue health and safety standards, but this bill would make that process even longer,” it added.

The bill passed 250 to 175. 

8 Democrats joined the GOP to vote for it:

Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

All 8 have amassed a horrible record this year.

Five of them—Ashford, Cuellar, Graham, Peterson, and Schrader—have voted to weaken Dodd-Frank, weaken the ACA, and approve the Keystone Pipeline.

Bishop voted to weaken Dodd-Frank and approve the Keystone pipeline, but not to weaken the ACA.

Costa voted to weaken the ACA and approve the Keystone pipeline, but not to weaken Dodd-Frank.

Sinema voted to weaken Dodd-Frank and the ACA, but not to approve the Keystone pipeline.
Three Democratic amendments received a vote.

Gerry Connolly (VA-11) offered an amendment to exempt any rule or guidance pertaining to public health or safety. It failed 178 to 248.

One Republican—Chris Gibson (NY-19)—supported it.

Six Democrats voted against it:

Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

I was surprised to see Lofgren here and wonder if she pressed the wrong button.

Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) offered an amendment to exempt all rules promulgated by the Department of Homeland Security. It failed 176 to 249.

Seven Democrats voted against it:

Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

Hank Johnson (GA-04) offered an amendment to exempt all rules or guidance that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget determines would result in net job creation. It failed 178 to 247.

One Republican—Matt Salmon (AZ-05)—voted for it.

Six Democrats voted against it:

Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)

Blumenauer's vote sticks out to me here as Lofgren's did earlier.

Regardless, the administration has said that it would veto similar bills in the past and would likely do so here as well.