A House task force wants to improve the nation’s business atmosphere by reducing regulation on small businesses, according to a mission statement released Tuesday.
The Task Force on Reducing Regulatory Burdens is working to examine the country’s regulations and how they affect national security, the economy, healthcare, poverty, opportunity and upward mobility. The task force is set up as a bulwark against what has been seen as executive overreach by President Obama.
Led by the chairmen of nine House committees, the mission statement is the first step in the task force’s work since it was formed in January.
“Make it easier to invest, produce and build in America with a modern and transparent regulatory system that relieves the burden on small businesses and other job creators and encourages financial independence, while balancing environmental stewardship, public safety, and consumer interests,” the mission statement reads.
The task force also released a list of nine principles. The top one was ensuring federal regulations are a last resort and “minimally intrusive.”
The rest of the principles were divided into four categories: energy and environment, financial services, small business and frivolous legal proceedings.
On energy, the task force wants regulations to consider the benefits of increased domestic energy production; make sure efforts to reduce pollution should achieve real environmental benefits while also being compatible with economic growth; and incorporate the improvement of environmental quality and public health into new regulations.
On financial services, the task force wants to “empower Americans to achieve financial independence,” keep taxpayers from paying for more bailouts for Wall Street, have accountability for both financial regulators and financial institutions, and open up greater opportunities for small businesses.
To help those small businesses, the task force says it will work to ensure federal agencies follow the law to lessen the impact of regulations.
Finally, the task force wants to work to reduce the amount of lawsuits it considers “wasteful abuses” to increase efficiency in the judicial system.
