11,327 WHOPPING pages of federal regulations added under Obama

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
9/12/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

70 percent of the regulations were economic, accounting for $1.236 trillion of annual cost

The best government is the one that governs least, the old saw goes. If that's the case, current U.S. President Barack Obama doesn't place too much credence on that truism. Under his administration a staggering 11,327 pages of new federal regulations were added.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., released these figures this week as it held its annual Labor Day briefing on the state of the economy.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The majority of new regulations have become apparent over the past three years. The bound edition of the Code of Federal Regulations has increased by 11,327 pages, a 7.4 percent increase from Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2011.

The increase in the number of pages was the most over the last decade in 2009, or 3.4 percent or 5,359 pages.

The federal government has issued almost 38,000 new final rules over the past 10 years, according to the draft of the 2011 annual report to Congress on federal regulations by the Office of Management and Budget. In essence that brought the total at the end of 2011 to 169,301 pages, more than double the number of pages needed to publish the regulations back in 1975 when the bound edition consisted then of 71,244 pages.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., released these figures this week as it held its annual Labor Day briefing on the state of the economy.

Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Randy Johnson distributed a handout of a Congressional Research Service analysis of a 2008 study commissioned by the Small Business Administration. The report estimated the annual compliance price for all federal regulations at $1.7 trillion that year.

Seventy percent of the regulations were economic, accounting for $1.236 trillion of the annual cost. The other regulations were, in order of cost, environment regulations at $281 billion, tax compliance at $160 billion and occupational safety and health and homeland security at $75 billion.

"I think these kinds of figures, if you put yourself in the place of a business person you'll find them fairly mindboggling," Johnson said.

In theoretically calculating that if every U.S. household paid an equal share of the federal regulatory burden, it would mean a $15,586 tab for each household in 2008.

Ronald Bird, economist with the USCC, told CNSNews.com that the 7.4 percent increase in pages of regulations during the first three years of the Obama administration is far higher than the increase over the first three years of the George W. Bush administration, for the years 2001, 2002, and 2003. At that time, the publication grew by 4.4 percent.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Federal regulations, Obama administration, rules, economic rules

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Rob
8 months ago
vance, could you provide the link where they said they wanted us to be like Cuba?

Regulations for the sake of regulations is never a good idea. But I do believe government has a responsibility to strike the right balance. Deregulation of the financial services industry almost threw us in the great depression, but maybe the pendelum has swung too far the other way. Since we can't be reasonable with eachother, this is the best we can do. Go too far one way or the other, common interest be darned.
Larry
8 months ago
One of the things I realized over time is that the more government (size and power) the more the people in government positions think they have to show something for their existence - more rules, regulations, legislation, inspections, etc. all in the name of public safety. When one problem is solved they look for another even if there is no big problem yet - they'll make a mountain out of a mole hill just to say they did something. I've seen this with some politicians and government committees and bodies. I've also seen this with non profits which are supported by government dollars - once some of them address the problem or issue that created them, they do not dissolve and go away - they look to stick their nose into some other issue, even if 100s of other groups are addressing it too or there is little need at this time for the new identified problem just so they can say they need to exist still. This gets to be a burden on the taxpayer all the more. Do you think that banning the big soda drinks is going to make such a difference in New York since the have banned big soda drinks on the problem of obesity? I doubt it but all the time they spend on it shows they are trying to do something - for the public good so they say
vance
8 months ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you for telling the truth that we will not get from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and all print media. Whops, I forgot Fox News. I didn't here this from Fox News. All these regulations are there purposefully to destroy our free market system. Why? Because Obama and the Party of Death and Deceit have demonstrated and said that they want to transform our country into one that would resemble Venezuela, Cuba, or Vietnam.
Rose
8 months ago
This is going to result in government control over every aspect of our lives and the destruction of our capitalist, Constitutional Republic. Why? Barack needs total economic collapse in order to build his Marxist utopia.

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