If you have never heard of the ‘Stream Protection Rule’, you aren’t alone. In fact, before the Obama Administration decided to name that one of their final midnight rules last year, I had never heard the term. But its impact would have been disastrous – 400 new regulations from that one rule alone and a projected economic impact of 78,000 jobs lost.
With a President now in office willing to put his signature behind rule and regulatory repeals passed by the U.S. House & Senate, we have begun to take aggressive action to repeal some of the most costly, harmful and unconstitutional rules and regulations authored by the Obama White House. In bipartisan fashion last week, the House formally repealed that so called ‘Stream Protection Rule’ and a term that none of us ever became familiar with will fortunately stay that way.
In the midnight hours of President Obama’s term, they finalized a rule that effectively barred some Americans who receive disability benefits from owning a firearm – drastically impeding the second amendment rights of thousands. Just because somebody has a disability does not mean they are a threat to society. It is exactly this type of lame duck action, this type of Washington bureaucrats know best mentality which voters overwhelmingly rejected this past November. Again, the U.S. House acted last week with my full support to repeal this unconstitutional new bureaucratic rule and at last we have a counterpart in President Trump who is willing to put his ink on legislation passed by the Republican Congress to repeal these terrible rules and regulations.
In the past 2 weeks the House has been able to repeal 8 disastrous rules imposed under the Obama Administration. While our work is far from over, the removal of these rules alone has resulted in economic relief to the economy in the form of over 6 billion dollars. The repeal of these rules has been across the board – from rules and regulations projected to increase the strain on our nation’s teachers, rules which would increase burdens on local and state budgets, or new regulatory hurdles which would delay the permitting process on construction projects – the House is using the powers at its disposal as authored in the Congressional Review Act to undue job killing and costly rules finalized by the Obama White House during its last hours in office.
When Congress returns to session this week we will repeat this work of reviewing and repealing unnecessary, burdensome, duplicative and costly regulations finalized by the Obama White House in its final months, weeks, days, and hours. Less regulations, lower taxes, reduced federal spending, removal of a bureaucrat between you and your doctor and a return to the days of increased personal freedoms and liberties are just around the corner. Liberals in the House and Senate will continue their tactics of delay and disruptions, but they are only slowing down progress the American people want and deserve. The work of getting our country back to a place where the current generation knows they are leaving future generations better off has just begun, together we will return America to that light of democracy that invokes respect and awe from those around the globe.
Jason Smith represents Missouri’s 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Contact him at 573-335-0101 or visit https://jasonsmith.house.gov
