GOP congressman Don Young wants to repeal all regulations since 1991
Republican congressman Don Young, Alaska's sole House Representative, said Tuesday he was working on legislation to repeal all regulations that have been put into effect since 1991, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Young, who is 78 years old and has served in the House of Representatives since 1973, said the bill was "very simple."
"I just null and void any regulations passed in the last 20 years," he said during remarks at the Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club. "I picked 20 years ago because it crossed party lines and also we were prosperous at that time. And no new regulations until they can justify them."
Young spokesman Luke Miller said in an e-mailed statement that the legislation, which "is currently being developed," aims to "reverse the regulatory overreach by the executive branch."
"The overall theory behind the legislation is to try and reverse the regulatory overreach by the executive branch, who promulgates thousands of rules that Congress never intended and has not approved," Miller said. "The Congressman believes that when the compliance costs of these regulations is costing Americans over $1.75 trillion a year, something is wrong."
Miller did not respond to a question about whether the law would target only regulations that Congress had not directly approved or all regulations in general, as implied by Young's original comments.
In his statement, Miller acknowledged that "there are certainly regulations that are essential for public health and safety," but that "the amount of regulations coming from the Federal Government and the extent to how they affect everyday life in America is outrageous."
"The idea behind the legislation is simple; if an agency cannot justify the benefit of a regulation, then it has no business being on the books. The intent of this legislation is to reverse the regulatory overreach by the Federal Government, not to repeal regulations that are critical to the safety of Alaskans," he said.
Miller also did not respond to questions regarding the process and standards with which regulations would be judged appropriately beneficial to merit implementation. He also did not say whether agencies would be called on to defend regulations before or after they were repealed.
Among the thousands of regulations that would potentially be repealed under Young's bill would be those that delineate restrictions on putting chemicals and pesticides in food and drugs, those that outline security measures during defense emergencies, and rules surrounding air traffic control and aviation safety.
Young began his remarks with comments about how Congress needs to be less partisan.
"You have two extremes to the right and the left trying to run this country and the middle is not being heard. We have to get back to the middle," he said.
"My side of the aisle wants to cut our way into prosperity," he added. "We cannot do that. You can control spending but you cannot cut your way into prosperity. You have to add new dollars to the structure and economic base of this nation."
