Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and the rest of the House GOP leadership team sent a letter to President Barack Obama Monday morning, touting what they say are two areas of common ground between themselves and Obama’s jobs package.
Boehner et al are bringing the EPA Regulatory Relief Act and the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, bills that would slash regulations on businesses, to the House floor for votes this week. The EPA bill, which would lift restrictions on boilers used by hospitals, factories and colleges, is likely a non-starter for the administration, which is already under fire from environmental activists for easing new clean air restrictions nearly a month ago.
With Obama’s emphasis on jumpstarting the construction industry, the cement bill could plausibly get some traction within the administration. The measure would require the government to reissue recent restrictions on cement use to allow additional time to rewrite them in a less burdensome way. House Republicans argue that as written, the cement rules threaten to shut down up to 20 percent of the nation’s cement manufacturing plants in the next two years, “sending thousands of jobs permanently overseas and driving up cement and construction costs across the country.”
“The federal government has a responsibility under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce, and there are reasonable regulations that protect our children and help keep our environment clean,” Boehner wrote. “But there are also excessive regulations that unnecessarily increase costs for consumers and small businesses, and make it harder for our economy to create jobs.”
Boehner also pointed to a specific example of the new cement rules negative impact on job creation. The Speaker had invited Spencer Weitman, the president of National Cement, to sit with him during Obama’s recent jobs address to Congress. Weitman, who heads the Alabama-based company, says federal regulations forced him to suspend a $350 million construction project that would have created more than 1,500 new jobs.
TPM is fact-checking the argument with sources in the administration and Capitol Hill, and provide more information as it becomes available.
