REGULATORY ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise against the underlying bill.

Mr. Chairman, we have heard a lot about job growth. We just want to remind people that our economy has experienced job growth in excess of 200,000 for 11 consecutive months, a record that hadn't been seen since the Clinton administration, and 58 consecutive months of private sector job growth, a string that hasn't been seen in recorded history.

So, continued economic growth and strong regulatory protections are not mutually exclusive. In fact, regulations are often necessary to protect the investments the American taxpayer makes in our economy and to ensure stability, order, and safety inside and outside of the workplace.

Unfortunately, this legislation will impose unnecessary burdens and delays on agencies seeking to issue or improve rules and regulations, burdensome delays that can threaten taxpayer dollars and the lives and health of workers.

Mr. Chairman, I offered two amendments that would have improved the bill, but neither was accepted by the Rules Committee. The first would have insured that inspector general recommendations would not be subject to the potentially dangerous delays and extra hurdles found in the bill.

Inspectors general are taxpayers' independent watchdogs who investigate and seek out problems and inefficiencies in our government. For example, two alarming audits issued last year by the Department of Education's inspector general found that criminal fraud rings were preying on money available through distance learning programs and that expensive, bank-sponsored debit cards were used to perpetuate waste, fraud, and abuse in the financial aid program.

Fortunately, in both of these situations the inspector general urged the Department of Education to quickly issue new rules to ensure that billions of dollars aren't wasted.

Unfortunately, without my amendment, this bill would deeply impair the ability of the Department of Education and other agencies to address similar known abuses of taxpayers' funds.

Delays in inspector general recommendations can also threaten the lives and health of workers. For example, the Department of Labor's inspector general found that the Mine Safety and Health Administration had a regulatory gap that allowed mine operators who habitually violated mine safety standards to easily avoid sanctions and continue to operate unsafe mines.

The unfortunate consequence of these loopholes was seen at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, where 29 mine workers were killed in the largest coal mine disaster in the United States in 40 years.

Following that disaster, the inspector general recommended fixes that would close these loopholes, and the administration quickly adopted new regulations that are estimated to prevent about 1,800 miner injuries every 10 years. Had this bill been in effect, these regulations might not have ever been adopted in a timely manner.

My second amendment, Mr. Chairman, would have also strengthened protections of workers' health and safety. The amendment would have exempted regulations or guidance proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to prevent health care workers from contracting infectious diseases.

As it stands, the legislation could possibly delay OSHA's workforce protections and make it far more difficult for OSHA to prevent health care workers from contracting lethal infectious diseases.

Under current regulations that govern OSHA's rulemaking, it takes OSHA an average of 7 years to issue standards, and this bill could add another 3 years, possibly delaying and essentially shutting down OSHA's ability to issue rules altogether.

Mr. Chairman, this legislation will seriously compromise the ability of agencies to protect both taxpayers and workers, so I urge my colleagues to oppose the legislation.