Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

March 2014 – The 2013 Congress has been criticized by many for not producing new legislation in 2013 when it only passed 65 laws that were signed by President Obama. But to say the federal government has not been busy would be wrong.

In 2013, federal agencies issued 3,659 regulations. That is 56 regulations for every law passed by Congress. Wayne Crews, author of a study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, said, “The deterioration of the Constitution’s separation of, and balance of, powers means that regulators and bureaucrats now make the most laws. The executive branch increasingly imposes its will: President Obama and his administration repeatedly say they are not going to wait for Congress.”

Jay Carney, White House press secretary, said, “The Obama administration has had a smart, pragmatic approach to ensure we are reducing burdensome regulations.”

American Action Forum, a conservative advocacy group, decided to see how much that pragmatic approach to reducing regulations has cost American businesses. The study showed that Obama administration regulations were responsible for $447 million in regulatory costs per day in 2013.

theblaze.com, 1/10/14