WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a full committee hearing titled “Burdensome Regulations: Examining the Biden Administration’s Failure to Consider Small Businesses.”

Chairman Williams’ opening statement as prepared for delivery:

Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing which will focus on how the Biden Administration’s burdensome regulatory agenda has negatively impacted Main Street.

I’d like to start off by thanking our witnesses for being here with us today. Your input on these important issues is greatly appreciated.

One of the top priorities of this Committee has been combatting the burdensome red tape and regulations that hamper small businesses across America. On the flip side, since day one, this Administration has unleashed a regulatory onslaught on small businesses across the country. Unfortunately, they have repeatedly shown that they do not consider the best interests of small business owners when making rules and regulations.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act was created with the sole purpose of ensuring federal agencies consider small businesses during the rule making process. This Committee conducted a 15- month investigation and found most federal agencies are dodging the RFA’s requirements and failing to consider the interests of small firms in the rulemaking process. All you need to do is look at the numbers – all final rules issued by this Administration have a cost of over 1.4 trillion dollars and will take over 230 million paperwork hours to comply with. Put simply, the RFA needs to be significantly improved.

Today, in furtherance of that effort, the Committee is releasing a staff report detailing all of the problems the Committee uncovered and offering potential legislative solutions.

Because the RFA is not operating as a shield like it should, Main Street is suffering. Every business owner will tell you that regulations don’t happen in a vacuum – they have real world consequences. Complying with mountains of regulations is no small task for a small business. Just a couple months ago, we heard from a small business manufacturer in this hearing room that his regulatory costs have gone up 460 percent in the last eight years and, to make matters worse, he testified that the regulations have not made products better or safer. This is unacceptable in every way. We aren’t giving our small firms a chance to be successful if we continue down this road.

Small businesses do not have the luxury of large businesses with dedicated compliance departments. When new regulations are finalized or changed, it is up to the business owner themselves to take time away from their core responsibilities to understand the new requirements. In a time when businesses are still struggling with stubborn inflation, high interest rates, and a bleak labor market, we should not be adding mountains of new regulations as an additional challenge they must overcome.

As a small business owner myself, I know all too well the consequences that come with piles of regulations. Every small business owner knows it, too. It is my hope that this hearing will shed further light on the issue at hand and that we use this hearing to advance solutions that will help Main Street America. To that end, there are 8 pieces of legislation attached to this hearing, and I hope our conversation today will further shape these potential solutions.

I want to thank you all again for being here with us today, and I am looking forward to today’s conversation.

With that I will yield to my colleague from the great state of Kansas, Ms. Davids.

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