WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Roger Williams (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, wrote to President expressing concern for the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda and its negative impacts on Main Street America. Chairman Williams issued the following statement.

“The Biden Administration spent this past year putting small businesses on the defensive as they dealt with a siege of new regulations coming from every agency,” said Chairman Williams. “This year, the Committee has sent more than 50 letters to the Biden Administration sounding the alarm about the impacts harmful regulations are having on our nation’s entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, America’s job creators continue to be an afterthought in Biden’s reckless regulatory agenda that looks to transform our country through the excessive federal bureaucracy. As we head into 2024, this Committee will continue to fight for Main Street America and ensure their voices are heard in Washington.”

Read the full letter here.

Read excerpts from the letter below:

“The House Committee on Small Business (Committee) writes to express our deep concern over the aggressive regulatory burden your Administration has forced on Main Street America. Over regulation, combined with historic levels of inflation, supply chain problems, and labor force shortages, have caused Americas small businesses to face incredible hardship. In fact, over the duration of your Presidency, your agencies have passed 716 final rules costing $436.7 billion and 236.1 million paperwork hours. This Committee is concerned that these new regulations, and the cumulative effect of existing regulations, will have a disproportionate, negative impact on small businesses.

“In 2021, your Administration set the record for the most economically significant rules issued in the first year of a presidency, and the 2023 Federal Register is already almost 10,000 pages longer than the 2021 edition. As of December 5, 2023, the Federal Register sits at 85,090 pages, making it the third longest version of this document in US history, and is on track to exceed 91,375 pages. Additionally, the Federal Register this year is on pace to include 5,053 proposed or final rules. If printed on standard paper in one book, this book would be over 35 feet thick. It is not possible, let alone reasonable, to believe that individuals or small businesses have the ability to sift through over 85,000 pages to ensure compliance with each new rule.

“It is estimated that over the course of your presidency, regulations have cost businesses more than $430 billion. These costs are disproportionately harmful to small businesses who more frequently need outside support in compliance efforts.7 The Federal Register is premised on the idea that US citizens deserve to know what their government is doing and how it impacts them. It would take the average American approximately 2,900 hours to read this year’s volume of the Federal Register—50 percent more time than the average number of hours individual Americans work annually.”

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