Friday: Regulations, rail strike bill in the House

The House meets at 9 a.m. Friday to consider the latest in a series of bills that seek to mitigate the impact of regulations on companies — H.R. 3010, the Regulatory Accountability Act.

This bill would reform the Administrative Procedure Act to expand the requirements of federal agencies to base rules on evidence, consider less intrusive alternatives, and weigh costs and benefits more carefully.

It would also require agencies to offer more detailed explanations for why major and high-impact rules are needed, which are those rules having an annual cost of $100 million and $1 billion, respectively.

The rule for the bill approved earlier this week makes seven amendments in order, six of which are from Democrats.

The House today might also take up a resolution from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) aimed at preventing a rail strike next week.

Unions representing the freight industry and a group representing railroad companies have failed to reach a deal to prevent a strike, and a panel created by President Obama set a Dec. 6 deadline for a deal, after which the unions can strike.

The Mica resolution, H.J.Res. 91, seeks to require both parties in the dispute to accept the recommendations that a board set up by Obama made in November.

Mica's resolution is different from two introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), which would extend the time the parties have to talk until Feb. 8.

The Senate is out Friday and returns Monday, after it approved the 2012 defense spending bill on Thursday night, and failed to advance two competing versions of a payroll tax cut bill.

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