McCarthy: House acts to rein in excessive government regulations and a new bill would streamline the regulatory process for commercial spacecraft

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican and House Majority Whip, gives us his weekly report from Capitol Hill:

 "We all know the burdens that costly regulations have on our everyday lives.  Excessive red tape is costing our economy billions and making it harder for small businesses to expand and grow.

"Too often, federal agencies act unilaterally on rules and regulations without considering how they harm the economy and undercut American businesses from creating jobs.  This administrative abuse against our local small business owners is troubling as our economy continues to limp along and over 11 million Americans remain out of work.  Today, we acted to hold federal agencies accountable and require transparency to their rulemaking process so that any costly rule that will have negative economic impacts or will result in the loss of jobs cannot be implemented without congressional approval.  Today’s vote ensures that the American people and businesses affected by federal regulations will have their voices heard.

 "This week, Congress reintroduced and passed H.R. 367, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013 (REINS Act) that simply asks to have an up or down vote on costly regulations. No major regulations should be instituted by a federal agency without the vote of Congress.  This legislation would ensure there are proper checks and balances to hold federal agencies accountable.

"Also today, I introduced the Suborbital and Orbital Advancement and Regulatory Streamlining (SOARS) Act. The bill would streamline the regulatory process for commercial spacecraft, ensuring that the commercial spaceflight industry can continue to innovate quickly and safely, creating high-quality local jobs in the process.  I have seen firsthand how the talented people of East Kern County have grown this industry through technological advancement, and this legislation would help ensure they are not hindered in creating jobs here locally.

This bill would:

• Ensure that innovative launch and reentry vehicles have a “one-stop shop” for regulatory oversight, instead of dealing with two or more separate sets of regulatory requirements.

• Fixes a technical issue with current law to allow vehicle manufacturers to use individual vehicles as test platforms while other individual vehicles are being used in commercial service. Current law requires all vehicles of the same design either to be used for one purpose or the other.

• Creates a demonstration project to evaluate the benefits of using experimental aircraft to support launch and reentry activities.

• Promote safety and innovation by unifying regulatory oversight, allowing companies to test safety improvements rapidly, and providing opportunities to develop new approaches to supporting launch and reentry activities.

The recent July jobs report shows a sluggish economy with 11.5 million Americans still out of work. These pieces of legislation are real solutions to ensure that our local economy can thrive by creating an environment where innovation and job creation can occur without the excessive burdens of onerous government regulations.