Volume 141, No. 37 covering the 1st Session of the 104th Congress (1995 - 1996) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUPPORT RISK ASSESSMENT AND COST-BENEFIT ACT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2310-H2311 on Feb. 28, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORT RISK ASSESSMENT AND COST-BENEFIT ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Norwood] is recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1022, the Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Act. This [[Page H2311]] legislation is necessary because of the immense cost piled onto the American economy by Federal bureaucrats. This bill establishes requirements for regulators to use risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis in creating the rules we live under. It requires development of peer review for regulations. It subjects decisions of agencies to judicial review. It requires the President to set regulatory priorities. It is a necessary step that we must take to free the American economy from burdensome regulations, but we have the opportunity to do better * * * to give small business the power to fight the bureaucrats on their own.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation will do the most for the small businesses that can afford new regulations the least. H.R. 1022
would help small business by allowing these companies to direct their scarce resources toward achieving the maximum environmental cleanup for the least cost. Small businesses are often more severely impacted by costly regulation than large businesses because the cost to comply with these regulations represents a larger percentage of the small business's operating expenses and profits. If a Federal agency is required to perform a risk analysis on regulations that impacts small business, small business is likely to be better able to afford to comply with the resulting rule. H.R. 1022 will result in fewer small business being financially bankrupted because of excessively expensive regulations.
The wood preserving industry, which is very important to my district, is made up mainly of small businesses. This industry could have been devastated in 1991 when the Environmental Protection Agency issued a hazardous waste listings regulation, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The tools of risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis were not applied in this act. The budget for the 1992 fiscal year stated that this RCRA regulation would have cost the wood preserving industry $5.7 trillion per premature death averted. This huge monetary amount would prevent one cancer case every 2.9 million years. That's one death every 2.9 million years. The regulation's costs, as noted in the 1992 budget, were so outrageous that the wood preserving industry was able to gain congressional support for a request that EPA work with the industry to craft a more cost-effective regulation. The negotiations resulted in a cost-effective regulation that was protective of human health and the environment. The wood preserving industry, with its' heavy small business component, was able to stay alive and facilities were able to comply with the regulation.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot expect every industry to be able to rally support to save themselves from such bureaucratic nightmares. Mr. Speaker we should not expect every industry to be able to rally support to save themselves from such bureaucratic nightmares. We must give them the power to take on Federal regulators head on. We can do that if we approve the Barton amendment later today. The Barton amendment would give the average citizen the right to challenge Federal regulations themselves. It would force bureaucrats to review existing rules for their cost-benefit. Mr. Speaker, industries should not have to come to us to save them from overzealous bureaucrats. By passing the Barton amendment, we give individual American citizens the power to fight for themselves.
The main principle of our regulatory reform system must be common sense. The Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Act will force Federal bureaucrats to focus their regulatory efforts on what will benefit Americans the most. It will prevent Federal bureaucrats from forcing industries to spend millions, even billions of dollars without proving the responsibility of that action. It will force Federal bureaucrats to give cost-effective solutions the same consideration and the same weight as the extravagant ideal solutions they pursue today. This we must do. But, Mr. Speaker, I also hope my colleagues will realize that this is but a first step. We must also give our citizens the power to fight the bureaucrats themselves. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Barton Amendment and empower individual Americans.
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