Measures Will Cut Red-Tape, Create Construction Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced two amendments to the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act (S. 1619) that will create more American jobs by rolling back Washington’s red-tape. Earlier this year, Barrasso introduced these amendments as bills: the Employment Impact Act and the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act.
The Employment Impact Amendment forces Washington to take into account the impact of any proposed regulation on jobs and the economy. It also looks at the impact of regulations that could lead to the outsourcing of American jobs to countries like China. The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Amendment protects cement and construction industry jobs across America by stopping the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Cement MACT rule and setting forth strict standards to be considered in any future rulemaking.
“If the White House and Democrats in Congress are serious about helping more Americans find jobs, they will support my amendments. It only makes sense that Washington should be forced to look at the impact of its policies on jobs," said Barrasso.
"The Administration’s Cement MACT rule will put our construction workers in the unemployment line while workers in countries like China continue to build new roads and bridges. We need to cancel this job-crushing rule.
"These amendments will help give job creators the certainty they need to hire new American workers."
Background:
Employment Impact Act Amendment:
The Employment Impact Amendment requires that the agencies of the Federal Government do a “Jobs Impact Statement” when there is the potential for job loss because of a federal action. The statement would include:
• If the government action has the potential to significantly affect jobs or job opportunities, then the agency or department would have to undertake a jobs impact analysis, called a jobs impact statement.
• The jobs impact statement would force federal agencies to look at the impact of any action on jobs, including the cumulative impact on jobs from multiple proposed regulations across different agencies on a particular industry.
• The jobs impact statement would include looking at the short and long term impacts on productivity of the regulated industry as well as look at the potential of losing American jobs overseas from the proposed government action.
The amendment would also require that Federal officials take into account the cumulative impact on jobs and job opportunities of concurrently pending proposals affecting a particular industry or sector of the economy.
Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act Amendment:
Cement is the key ingredient in concrete, the foundation of American infrastructure. If the EPA moves forward with its new Cement MACT rule, it would cut domestic cement manufacturing capacity by 20 percent within the next two years. In addition to destroying jobs in the cement manufacturing industry, the rule is also expected to destroy 80,000 construction jobs because of higher construction costs.
The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Amendment will save cement and construction industry jobs by:
• Stopping EPA’s Cement MACT rule and sets forth strict standards to be considered in any future rulemaking.
• Extending compliance deadlines from 3 to at least 5 years to allow facilities adequate time to comply with standards and install necessary equipment.
• Directing EPA, when developing the new rules, to adopt definitions that allow cement manufacturing plants to continue to use alternative fuels for energy recovery.
• Directing EPA to ensure that new rules are achievable by cement manufacturing facilities in the United States and impose the least burdensome regulatory alternatives consistent with the President’s Executive Order 13563.
###