House Votes on Bill to Freeze Regulatory Action while Unemployment Remains High

A bill introduced into the House of Representatives by Tim Griffin (R-AK) is seeking support to freeze governmental regulatory activities from government agencies until the unemployment rate (current at 8.2 percent) dropped below 6 percent. Specifically, the actions being referred to include any government activity that would cost over $100,000, affect the market, conflict with other agencies, affect the budget, or raise problems involving legal or policy issues.

While the bill is very broad and is unlikely to pass, it could be potentially very powerful in controlling how the government acts under the stubbornly high unemployment rate. Included with the vote on the bill are two additional pieces of legislation that would make it difficult for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to carry out regulations and orders.

Before making any “significant” actions, the agencies would need to receive a cost-benefit analysis from the Office of the Chief Economist which would assess said actions and review old regulations before enacting anything new. The SEC bill is being introduced by Scott Garrett (R-NJ) and the CFCT bill is being introduced by Mike Conaway (R-TX). The regulatory bill’s number is HR-4078, the SEC bill is HR 2308, and the CFCT bill is HR-1840.