Friday, February 6, 2015

Which 19 House Democrats Just Voted to Hobble Federal Regulators?

Following its vote Wednesday on a bill to subject federal regulators to more burdensome paperwork and open the door to more industry lawsuits, the House voted on another bill yesterday to do the same thing.
The "Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015" would require federal agencies to measure the costs of regulations on small businesses.

Here is the White House's statement on the bill:
H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, would impose unneeded and costly analytical and procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from performing their statutory responsibilities. It would also create needless regulatory and legal uncertainty and costs for businesses and the American public. Accordingly, the Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 527. ...
Passage of H.R. 527 would burden the existing framework with layers of new procedural requirements that would seriously undermine the ability of agencies to execute their statutory mandates. It would expand the use of advocacy review panels, create needless grounds for judicial review and judicial remedies, and impose unrealistic analytic requirements on agencies. In these ways and others, H.R. 527 would impede the ability of agencies to provide the public with basic protections, and create needless confusion and delay that would prove disruptive for businesses as well as for State, Tribal and local governments.
The statement also includes an intention to veto the bill, were it to ever reach the President's desk. John Conyers (MI-13) expressed a similar view in the debate before the vote:
"Under the guise of protecting small businesses from allegedly burdensome regulatory requirements, this bill is just another attempt to prevent regulatory agencies from promulgating regulations that promote and protect the health and safety of Americans," said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
The bill passed 260 to 163.

19 Democrats joined the GOP in voting for it:

Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Tim Walz (MN-01)

Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) offered an amendment to exempt from the bill all regulations issued by the Food and Drug Administration relating to consumer safety, including those issued pursuant to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.

It failed 172 to 248.

Eight Democrats joined the GOP in voting against it:

Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

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