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GOP fall regulations agenda takes shape
The House GOP is getting closer to finalizing its regulatory rollback agenda for the fall, and details could come as soon as next week.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), in an opinion piece Monday in The Washington Post, put more flesh on the bones of the fall lineup.
He wrote that the GOP will address “repealing the ‘3 percent withholding rule,’ which serves as an effective tax increase on those who do business with the government.”
At issue is a tax-law change from 2006 that requires governments, including at the state and local level when using federal funds, to withhold 3 percent of payments to contractors when buying goods and services. It has been delayed repeatedly and is now scheduled to go into effect in 2013.
The provision, as with individual income tax withholding, is meant to increase compliance with the tax law and reduce the number of contractors owing tax debt to the Treasury. At the end of the year, firms are credited with the 3 percent withheld.
In 2009, the government estimated that it could increase tax collection by $11 billion using this law.
In the House, H.R. 674, a bill sponsored by Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.), now has 222 co-sponsors — including Democrats close to leadership and with large federal contractors in their districts, such as Maryland Reps. Elijah Cummings and Chris Van Hollen and Rep. John Larson (Conn.).
Cantor also wrote that environmental regulations will have a top priority, including “overturning the [Environmental Protection Agency’s] proposed regulations that inhibit jobs in areas as varied as cement and farm dust.”
The EPA has consistently denied that it is seeking to tighten controls on farm dust. The agency is reviewing its standards on particulate matter this summer, and some Republicans are afraid those regulations will in fact be changed.
“This is a myth the administrator has debunked personally on several occasions,” EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said. “While the EPA is mandated by the [Clean Air Act] to review air-quality standards for pollutants like farm dust every five years, and that
review is currently ongoing, we have no plans to put stricter standards in place. That review, at the administrator’s direction, has involved
extensive outreach to farmers and ranchers.”
But Gilfillan stressed that the EPA has “no plans to put stricter standards in place.”
On cement, the GOP is looking to advance the bipartisan Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2681), introduced July 28. The bill addresses a 2010 Portland cement emissions rule and two follow-up regulations.
The bill is sponsored by Reps. John Sullivan (R-Okla.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Joe Barton (R-Texas), John Carter (R-Texas), Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and Jason Altmire (D-Pa.). The sponsors say it would give regulators more time to come up with fairer emissions standards for the cement kilns.
The 2011 Interior Appropriations bill also contains a rider that prohibits the EPA from implementing the rule.
Cantor’s opinion piece also mentions that the GOP plans “to prevent the [National Labor Relations Board] from inhibiting where a business chooses to create jobs.”
Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act in July as a response to an NLRB complaint against Boeing. Having cleared a Rules Committee debate last month, the bill is now ready for floor consideration.
The measure would prevent the NLRB from ordering companies to relocate production lines or make investments in particular plants. The NLRB has argued that Boeing is moving production to South Carolina — a right-to-work state — to punish unionized workers in Washington state.
GOP sources have also said the House conference plans to move on the REINS Act in September. That bill would require up-or-down votes in Congress on every major business regulation.
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