There’s an old saying that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. If the past eight years are anything to go by, we should go ahead and add “government regulation” to that list.
While there is certainly a time and place for regulation, too often the Obama administration put in place new government rules that got in the way of innovation and burdened the hard-working taxpayers of our country. The answer to this is not getting rid of all regulation, but instead targeting and rolling back the egregious regulations making life harder for the people of Illinois. Since coming to Congress in 2015, I’ve been hard at work doing just that.
Our state, and the 18th District in particular, is home to many farmers and is a hub of agricultural activity. Unfortunately, agriculture is one area constantly being set upon with new regulations.
A necessary part of growing our nation’s food is irrigation, and the ponds and irrigation canals that comprise that. Unfortunately, the EPA under President Obama put forth the Waters of the United States rule, which would have reclassified many irrigation ditches and streams as “navigable waters,” allowing for the federal government to impose burdensome regulations taking up more time and money.
Republicans worked hard over the past two years to push back against this rule, defunding the EPA’s ability to enforce it. In March of this year, President Trump was finally able to fully retract the rule, saving our farmers from another hurdle in getting us the food and resources we need.
Another regulation with a big impact in my district was the fiduciary rule. This harmful rule by the Department of Labor under President Obama would have placed new obstacles and requirements that would limit access to retirement advise and create new obstacles for the small businesses wishing to offer their employees retirement options.
The rule would have placed investment advisors under a new “fiduciary standard,” creating over 1,000 pages of new regulations, costing businesses $5 billion to implement and $1.1 billion annually. These costs would have been passed on to consumers, while also forcing advisors out of the marketplace. Planning for retirement can be enough of a headache without all of these extra obstacles, and government should not be
Republicans in both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to undo the rule, which was then vetoed by President Obama. President Trump has now delayed the rule, asking for more research to be done examining the effects the rule will have.
Just six months into this Congress, these have all been major victories for the people of Illinois’ 18th District. As we move forward, I will continue to work hard on behalf of my constituents against harmful regulations that threaten to hurt our economy and burden the people of Illinois’ 18th.
