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WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives today passed legislation that includes language by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., to ensure unfunded mandates are incorporated into regulatory reform.

“The issue of unfunded mandates is frequently overlooked in the debates about reforming our regulatory system and carrying out federal policies,” said Foxx during a speech on the House floor. “It is all too easy for Washington bureaucrats to write off concerns expressed by a handful of local governments or a small subset of private businesses. But these decisions have real costs and real effects on the individuals, families and communities we each represent.”

H.R. 1155, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act of 2015, would establish a Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission to identify and recommend to Congress existing federal regulations that should be repealed to reduce unnecessary regulatory costs to the U.S. economy. Foxx’s amendment, which passed by voice vote, adds consideration of unfunded mandates to the commission’s review of existing rules.  

H.R. 712, the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act, would increase accountability and transparency in the federal regulatory process by providing increased scrutiny of sue-and settle rulemakings cases, mandating increased reporting requirements for planned rulemaking and providing for simplified summaries of proposed rules. Foxx’s amendment, which passed by voice vote, adds unfunded mandates to the reporting requirements for planned rulemaking by federal agencies.

A strong advocate of shedding light on how federal policies impact the budgets of state and local governments and private sector entities, Foxx has introduced the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act in the past four Congresses. It has passed the House with bipartisan support on four separate occasions, including by a vote of 250 to 173 on Feb. 4, 2015.

According to the American Action Forum, the U.S. government created 79,230 pages of new regulations in the federal register in 2015 with a total of $98.9 billion in regulatory costs.

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U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District and is the elected Republican Conference Secretary. Dr. Foxx is the chair of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and serves as Vice Chair of the House Rules Committee.