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Congressional Responsibility and Accountability Act by
Ron Paul Before the U.S. House of Representatives on August 1, 2007 Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce the Congressional Responsibility and Accountability Act. This bill requires Congress to specifically authorize via legislation any proposed federal regulation that will impose costs on any individual of at least $5,000, impose costs on a business or other private organization of at least $25,000, impose aggregate costs on the American people of at least $250,000, or cause any American to lose his or her job.
While it is easy for members of Congress to complain about out-of-control federal bureaucrats, it was Congress that gave these agencies the ability to create laws. Since Congress created the problem of lawmaking by regulatory agencies, it is up to Congress to fix the problem and make certain that all federal laws are passed by the people’s elected representatives. Therefore, Madame Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the Congressional Responsibility and Accountability Act.
August 30, 2007 Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas. |
Congress’s
delegation of law-making authority to unelected bureaucrats has
created a system that seems to owe more to the writings of Franz
Kafka than to the writings of James Madison. The volume of regulations
promulgated by federal agencies and the constant introduction of
new rules make it impossible for most Americans to know with any
certainty the federal laws, regulations, and rules they are required
to obey. Thus, almost all Americans live with the danger that they
may be hauled before a federal agency for an infraction they have
no reasonable way of knowing is against the law.