I was asked recently to name one thing I wish I could have changed during my time representing you in Congress. I’ve had a consistent answer to this question: our national debt. Though there are many issues I am passionate about and I have worked hard to address in Congress, I’ve always thought the House of Representatives is in a strong position to control federal government spending. While we have made some progress in recent years when it comes to slowing spending growth and actually making some cuts, our national debt is still rising. The fact that our government continues to implement new programs and allow for more regulations, the cost of which get added to the credit cards of our children and grandchildren, bothers me deeply. It is not sustainable, and it is not conservative.
As part of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s “Better Way” policy proposals, Republican working groups examined and proposed solutions to help grow our economy, which include reforming a regulatory system that already, by itself, represents the world’s ninth largest economy, behind India. If we want to reduce the size of government in order to help reduce spending, we first need to rein in our regulatory state.
Before implementing new regulations, federal agencies should always ask several questions. First, is a state or local solution already in place? Second, is federal action necessary? If so, how can this regulation be made more efficient and effective without becoming overly burdensome, especially for small businesses? If our government agencies studied these key questions and determined the answers before issuing new regulations, we could cut down on a tremendous burden on our economy’s growth and innovation. Another key part of reducing the drag that unnecessary regulations have on our economic growth is implementing a process to review and weed out regulations that are outdated and no longer serve a beneficial purpose. Right now, regulators essentially have a blank check to keep regulations in place indefinitely – and add to them.
The aspect of this plan that I have been most involved in is promoting financial independence and ending the era of “Too Big to Fail.” Recently, the Financial Services Committee released a discussion draft of the Financial CHOICE Act, which incorporates two bills I have introduced. First, it includes my bill, H.R. 1266, to reform the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from a single director who is not accountable to anyone, to a five-person bipartisan commission. Changing the CFPB structure will ensure a balanced and politically-neutral agenda that puts consumers first. My second bill that is part of the Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 5465, would repeal debit card swipe fee price-fixing, which is commonly known as the Durbin Amendment. Swipe fees are one of many regulations put in place by the Dodd-Frank Act that the Financial CHOICE Act would roll back in order to re-introduce market competition in the payments system to benefit consumers.
If Congress wants to do more to cut our national debt in order to stop adding to the burden our children and grandchildren will face, it is imperative that we take more steps to reduce regulation and the ever-growing size of government. Some regulation is necessary, but regulation can’t replace the ability of free markets and innovation to grow our economy and ensure it remains strong enough to weather financial hardships.
