House Republicans look to warn small business about regulations

The House Small Business Committee is launching a new online tool to help companies play a role in the federal regulatory process.

The panel says its “Small Biz Reg Watch” would publicize proposals that could affect smaller companies, and help those companies give feedback on those possible rules to the right federal agency.

“Most small businesses don’t have lawyers or lobbyists who focus on regulatory compliance, like larger corporations may have,” Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Small Business Committee, said in a statement.

In making their announcement, Republicans on the panel continued to press their case that overzealous regulations are weighing down the economy. Their release comes a day after the government initially estimated that the economy contracted slightly in the last three months of 2012. 

“Exports are falling and small businesses are sputtering under harmful government regulations,” said Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), the chairman of a Small Business subcommittee. “It’s important that we communicate to Washington and its regulators that there are real negative impacts and consequences to over-regulating.”

House Republicans consistently targeted regulations in the last Congress – passing the REINS Act, which would mandate that lawmakers approve any new rules with an economic effect of $100 million. A separate piece of legislation would have frozen significant new regulations until unemployment reached 6 percent. 

Democrats have said that congressional Republicans are the major obstacle to economic growth.

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