01.19.16

Sullivan Seeks to Work with President Obama on Solution to Overregulation

WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) sent a letter to President Obama today in an effort to work across party lines toward a solution to onerous and outdated federal regulations, which the President identified as an issue he wants to address with members of Congress in his final year in office.

“I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy,” President Obama said in his final State of the Union address. “I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed. There is red tape that needs to be cut." 

Senator Sullivan agrees with the president that something has to be done to help our struggling private sector. Cutting regulations is a start. Regulatory compliance is costing our country roughly $1.88 trillion a year. The past seven years has seen one of the slowest recoveries in history. Wages are down. Today, 15.7 million Americans are unemployed, working part time because they cannot find full-time employment, or want work but have stopped looking altogether. The national debt in 2009 was $10.6 trillion. Today it’s $18.9 trillion.

“This situation is dire,” Senator Sullivan said. “The American people expect us to act. We have an opportunity to live up to the President’s call to ‘work together’ for ‘the future we want.’ A broad majority in both houses of Congress – Democrats and Republicans alike – stand ready to work with the Administration toward a solution.”

In August of 2015, Senator Sullivan introduced the RED (Regulations Endanger Democracy) Tape Act, which requires any federal agency issuing a new regulation to sunset one or more existing regulations. To ensure agencies comply, the RED Tape Act withholds cost of living adjustments from any agency that refuses to abide by the rule.

“The United Kingdom and Canada recognized the challenges posed by overregulation and instituted similar one-in-one-out measures in recent years,” Senator Sullivan said. “The RED Tape Act and its underlying principle can be just as effective here in the United States.

“I sincerely hope the President will lend his support to the RED Tape Act, and work with me and other members of Congress to help middle class workers and take our country back from the grip of a broken regulatory system.”

Senator Sullivan’s letter to President Obama is available at: Regulatory Reform Letter to President Obama

###