Derek Schmidt Slams Biden Admin Over Increased Regulations Of Small Businesses

Forbes Breaking News

Last week, Rep. Derek Schmidt (R-KS) discussed how the Government should support small businesses.

Transcript

00:00Thank you to the gentlewoman from Wyoming.

00:02I appreciate her being a part of the special order this evening.

00:06And our last colleague that is going to address us this evening

00:11is a new member from the great state of Kansas, Representative Schmidt.

00:16Also an improvement to the previous member.

00:19He's a good friend.

00:20Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

00:23I have no comment on that last comment.

00:26My colleague from Utah.

00:26Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to join my colleagues tonight

00:33in recognition of National Small Business Week.

00:37And actually all the parts we've talked about are connected.

00:41National Small Business Week recognizes the importance of the small businesses

00:46throughout all of our communities.

00:48And the numbers aren't that different state to state.

00:51In my home state of Kansas,

00:5299% of the businesses that operate are small businesses.

00:58Whether they're small businesses on Main Street, small mom-and-pop shops,

01:02little manufacturing operations, farming operations, supporting operations,

01:0799% of our businesses are small businesses.

01:11And those 99% in my state employ about 600,000 Kansans,

01:18which is roughly half the total number of Kansans who work.

01:24So all but 1% of our businesses, 99%,

01:28employ half of our people who rely on them for their livelihood,

01:33for their hopes, for their jobs, for their benefits in many cases,

01:38and for filling their days because they obviously have to work

01:43in order to support their families and pursue their dreams.

01:47So we cannot overstate the importance of small businesses to all of us,

01:53the people we represent.

01:55And yet that often doesn't get itself reflected

01:59in the decisions and the actions that come out of this town.

02:05We've talked, my colleagues have talked a bit about reconciliation,

02:09and I say these are connected because we are going to make large policy decisions

02:15here in the House and in the Senate and with the President

02:18over the course of the coming weeks

02:21that are going to have huge implications

02:23for all of those small businesses on our Main Street

02:27and all of those individuals who work in them

02:30and rely on them for their livelihoods.

02:33We talk a lot about the tax implications,

02:36and that's not my focus this evening.

02:38It's critically important.

02:40We have to extend the small business and middle class tax relief

02:44so that those businesses can continue to operate

02:46and continue to employ the people we represent.

02:50But I want to talk a little bit tonight about the regulatory environment

02:54and the burden that we have created,

02:57really a tax by another means.

02:59When the government says to a small business,

03:01thou shalt do this,

03:03the compliance cost of doing this is borne by that business.

03:07And it comes out of their bottom line or out of their pockets.

03:11It takes away from their ability to invest in expanding and growing

03:15and hiring more people.

03:17It has the same effect of taking another dollar of tax out of their pocket

03:22to pay not for their priorities or their community's priorities

03:26or their employees' priorities,

03:27but for the government's priorities.

03:31And that is true whether it's a dollar taken out of their pockets,

03:34collected in tax and cash,

03:37or whether it's a dollar taken out of their pockets

03:40and ordered by the government to be used

03:43to comply with a government requirement, a mandate, a regulation.

03:47I am one who believes,

03:50because my constituents have told me this,

03:53that one of the most important things we can do

03:56and must do in this Congress

03:57is make real progress on regulatory relief

04:02for the small businesses that all of our communities rely on.

04:06And we've begun to take some steps.

04:08You know, Mr. Speaker,

04:09that we are currently using one of several tools available to us

04:14in this body to undo some, a small number,

04:19but some of the newer regulations

04:22that have piled burdens onto our small businesses.

04:24We're using the Congressional Review Act.

04:27We only have a short amount of time we can use that tool,

04:29so we've got to strike while the iron's hot.

04:31We have so far in the House used that tool

04:34to propose undoing 15 new regulations

04:38that were adopted in roughly the last six months

04:41of the prior administration.

04:42Of those 15 that we have approved here,

04:46three have been signed into law by the President.

04:48So we've done three.

04:50Another six have been approved by the Senate

04:52and are currently awaiting President Trump's signature.

04:55And then there are an additional six

04:58that are awaiting consideration,

05:00and I hope and expect passage in the Senate.

05:03So that's good.

05:05It's a good thing.

05:06We're using the tool available to try to make progress

05:09to provide some relief for those small businesses.

05:13But, Mr. Speaker, it's barely a drop in the bucket.

05:18It's barely a drop in the bucket.

05:21The chart next to me was compiled

05:23by George Washington University.

05:26It shows the number of pages in the Federal Register,

05:32starting back in 1950.

05:33The Federal Register, of course, is the government book,

05:37the government entity,

05:39where all of the agency regulations,

05:41not the laws passed by this body,

05:43but the agency regulations,

05:45the bureaucratic regulations, get published.

05:49And they have the force and effect of law.

05:51They are just as burdensome and binding

05:53on somebody running a mom-and-pop shop

05:56on Main Street in Kansas

05:57as is a statute enacted by this body.

06:00Usually, they are regulations adopted by an agency

06:04at the direction or with the permission

06:06or arguably with the permission of this body.

06:09We fight over that sometimes

06:10when agencies exceed the authority they were given.

06:14But there's a penchant here in Congress

06:16to avoid some of the hard decisions

06:17and just ship it downtown,

06:20let the agencies have a lot of running room.

06:23And as a result of that, you get lots of decisions,

06:25and sometimes they're not consistent.

06:27So one administration goes one way

06:29and another administration goes the next way,

06:31or they adopt one regulation

06:33and then they pile another regulation on top of it

06:36and then another on top of that.

06:37I heard a term the other day,

06:38I'd never heard it before.

06:40Coral reefing, this idea that you lay down something

06:43that's living and makes sense

06:44and then that layer dies

06:45and you just build another on top and another on top

06:48and eventually you get this giant dead mass.

06:51That's what we've done

06:52with a lot of these agency regulations.

06:54Part of it's Congress's fault.

06:56Part of it is the agency's fault.

06:59If you look at this chart, Mr. Speaker,

07:01back in 1950,

07:03roughly the time they started publishing

07:04the Federal Register,

07:05compiling all these agency rules,

07:08diktats, actions,

07:09there were about 10,000 pages.

07:11It's about how long it was,

07:13the sum of all regulations adopted by agencies.

07:17The year I was born in 1968,

07:19it had grown five-fold to 50,000 pages.

07:22And when this chart was compiled

07:24about a year ago, a little more,

07:26it was nearly 200,000 pages.

07:29Nearly 200,000 pages of regulations

07:33that folks in our country,

07:35our small businesses,

07:36have to comply with.

07:38And by the way,

07:38to put that in comparison,

07:40the number of pages in the U.S. code,

07:41the law is actually adopted

07:42by the people's representatives in this body.

07:45Last time it was compiled,

07:46it was around 60,000 pages.

07:48So about four times, roughly,

07:50three, four times as many

07:51rules and requirements

07:53on Main Street businesses

07:54written by people

07:55nobody out in the real world

07:57ever voted for,

07:58as opposed to laws

07:59that their elected representatives

08:01are accountable for.

08:03And by the way,

08:03this chart is not current.

08:05It doesn't include those regulations

08:07piled on top of this last tallest bar.

08:11Since this chart was compiled,

08:13we know that in the last five months

08:15of the Biden administration alone,

08:16more than 1,400 new regulations

08:19were adopted

08:20and shoved out the door.

08:21That's not 1,400 pages.

08:23That's 1,400 regulations,

08:25most of which were long.

08:27So this chart is actually much higher.

08:30So, Mr. Speaker,

08:31I just rise tonight

08:32to remind all of my colleagues

08:34and all of us

08:36who serve in these roles

08:37how important it is

08:38that during this small business week,

08:41as we are doing

08:42our reconciliation bill

08:43and we're doing

08:44all the things we do,

08:45that we not forget

08:47about this hidden tax,

08:49that we have created

08:50this burden

08:51that we have placed

08:52on the 99% of businesses,

08:55small businesses in our community,

08:56who employ half the people

08:58working in my state,

08:59making it harder

09:01for them to do

09:02what they do,

09:03what we rely on them to do,

09:05what we count on them to do,

09:08and more importantly,

09:09what the people we represent,

09:10our constituents,

09:12count on them to do.

09:12We can't lose sight of it.

09:14We must fix this system,

09:17tear down some of the coral reef

09:19and get those lines moving back down.

09:22Thank you, Mr. Speaker,

09:22and I yield.

09:24Thank you to the gentleman

09:24from Kansas.

09:25Excellent points.

09:26We just...

09:27Thank you for that.

09:27We just...

09:27Thank you for that.

09:28We saw that.

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