Federal regulations putting stranglehold on businesses, economy Commentary Kevin Shivers

WITH HIS political party firmly in control of Congress, President Obama devoted his first two years in office to several massive regulatory schemes that would for the first time bring whole sectors of the economy under the control of the federal government.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which passed only after several reluctant lawmakers were plied with giveaways to their states, placed fully 17 percent of the U.S. economy into the hands of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Not only does “Obamacare” mandate that every American purchase health insurance, but it regulates out of existence basic plans that now cover millions of Americans. It mandates expensive new coverages. It regulates doctors, hospitals and insurers. It fines and regulates employers. And it establishes a board of unelected functionaries who now have the power to ration medical care.

Is it any wonder that barely a year after the law was passed more than a thousand companies and unions, including some of the president’s biggest supporters, have applied for and received waivers?

The public backlash against “Obamacare” was so intense that Congress quickly abandoned another of the president’s goals – a vast expansion of environmental regulations. The proposal, called “Cap and Trade,” would have imposed a complicated system of penalties and credits aimed at driving up the cost of energy. Why do that?

It is a central doctrine of environmentalism that energy from fossil fuels, such as Pennsylvania coal and natural gas, are a danger to the world. Despite that carbon emissions have dropped sharply in the past two decades because of technology, and despite that carbon is a natural element found everywhere in the environment, the academic left from which President Obama comes is fervently devoted to the proposition that our energy system must be replaced by new, “green” technologies. Cap and Trade is explicitly designed to force Americans to use less energy.

But with the economy on the ropes and energy prices soaring, the president’s allies in Congress were willing to go no farther. No matter. The president would merely regulate what he was unable to legislate. So last year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency declared that carbon emissions were a dangerous substance that could be regulated by the federal government. It’s the first time that a federal agency has been able to assume so much power over the economy without congressional approval.

Since then, the rules have been tumbling out of the EPA. Indeed, there are 330 new regulations under consideration right now, and every one of them would have an impact of $100 million or more on the economy.

But there’s more. The other agencies of the Obama administration also are busy writing new rules. They would affect our food choices, our financial lives, our farmers and even the basic renovations that we make to our homes. Nothing apparently is beyond the reach of the federal government.

Small businesses pay the heaviest price to comply with these rules. According to the Small Business Administration, mom-and-pop businesses pay 60 percent more to meet federal standards than larger corporations. It’s no surprise, then, that small businesses are extremely reluctant to hire new workers even if they can because of the cloud of uncertainty that billows out of Washington these days.

The National Federation of Independent Business, which is the country’s largest advocate for small businesses with more than 14,000 members in Pennsylvania, has embarked on a nationwide campaign.

It is our goal to bring to Americans the stories that we hear every day from our members, but which never seem to make the news. They involve small business owners who are being destroyed or prevented from operating successfully by the landslide of new rules coming from Washington.

Our representatives in Washington should be reminded that Pennsylvania’s economic future depends on a healthy, efficient private sector, and that before they approve new burdens, they should ensure that the rules are actually necessary and founded in science.

Kevin Shivers, of Harrisburg, is state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents 350,000 small businesses nationwide including 14,000 in Pennsylvania.

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