To combat over-regulation, the REINS Act should be passed

Ordinary Americans feel it, even if they don’t know exactly what it is or how it got there. Nothing works like it used to. We feel like everything is getting worse. And our collective vision of the future seems to be getting darker around the edges.

The malaise we are currently experiencing seems unfathomable given the economic boom of 2019. But such is the rapid toxicity of nearly four years of unprecedented executive spending and a record torrent of regulation from unelected Washington bureaucrats.

On Day One of Biden’s presidency, the White House injected the country with a massive dose of 17 executive actions, including one aimed at reversing Trump-era checks and balances on unelected bureaucrats in Washington. The current administration wanted to “regulate” more quickly and easily without oversight. Millions of federal workers now had the power to create tens of thousands of rules governing every aspect of life. Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has unleashed this bureaucratic leviathan like never before in American history, spending more than $1.7 trillion through executive orders and administrative regulations.

The inflationary effects of printing and spending nearly $2 trillion without congressional approval have devastated working-class Americans who are now struggling to meet their basic needs. Inflation costs the average family of four $1,423 more per month, or $17,080 per year, to purchase the same goods and services as in January 2021.

This regulatory spending spree would be bad enough. Adding insult to injury, however, was a torrent of new regulations that swelled the Federal Register to more than 300,000 pages, adding 1,674 new pages of Washington regulations per week.

These new federal regulations added more than 312 million filing hours, impacting small businesses, farmers, manufacturers and producers who now shoulder more than $2.6 trillion in cumulative compliance burdens. Much of these compliance costs are passed on to consumers through price increases, another problem for struggling families that Harris’ campaign blames on price-gouging grocery stores.

The sad reality is that there is little standing in the way of the current administration accelerating its rule by decree. And there is nothing stopping the next administration from continuing the pace of accelerating regulation — a likely outcome should Harris win the presidency after blaming companies for rising costs. Most people are desperately worried about inflation and its impact on their families and future.

Fortunately, Congress has a remedy that can stem the tide of crushing inflation and tackle the growing cost of living crisis. This is a reform called the Implementing Rules Requiring Scrutiny Act, or REINS. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Republican Kat Cammack (R-FL) just reintroduced the legislation this Congress.

The reform would restore the “power of the purse” to Congress and rein in unchecked bureaucratic spending by requiring votes for or against any legislation with an economic impact of more than $100 million a year. The executive branch would be forced to slow down and explain to the public why such regulation is needed.

A version of the REINS Act has been successfully implemented in Florida, where legislation costing at least $1 million over five years requires legislative approval. This helped combat unnecessary bureaucracy and was one of many policies that made the state prosperous. It worked in Florida and it can work in Washington, too. But Congress must make regaining its own power a top priority in the coming year.

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Over the last four years, we have seen the damage done by the executive branch regulating and spending money without congressional approval. The REINS Act would end the era of bureaucratic rule that lowers our standard of living and dims the American Dream. Restoring prosperity to our nation will require major changes in Washington.

Congress must stop budget-busting bureaucrats and regain control of the purse strings. Society needs the REINS Act. Congress can provide the antidote to cure the current financial crisis we face.

Nick Stehle is vice president of communications at the Foundation for Government Accountability