Job killing obsession

The Republican jobs plan proves that Republican legislators have decided to go all in the on their obsession with "job killing". Odd for a group that claims the government "can't create jobs" to also believe that the government and in particular the President, can kill jobs. Either government impacts jobs creation or it doesn't.

One area that really seems to get under Republican legislators skin is government regulations. Contrary to the rhetoric, research shows that regulations have little to no impact on jobs. The same is true of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act but Republican legislators are currently against regulations and affordable health care so why let the facts get in the way of a good election strategy.

What is really baffling is why something like government regulations has suddenly become such a lighting rod. From 1995 to 2005 Republicans were in charge of two-thirds of the legislative process (Senate, House, President) with fours years of control of all three. If there were regulations that were particularly heinous and Republicans hate regulations as much as the say they do, then all of the fat should have been cut from the regulatory system in some form or another over this ten year span. Not only did the number of pages of the Federal Register (a common measuring stick for the number of regulations) not decrease during this time frame, it actually hit it's second highest number ever behind only 1980.

Of course it's not the Clinton-Bush era regulations that the Republican legislators are really after. Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a web page on important legislation that the Republicans are pushing which will help our dire jobs situation. Of these, about half of the legislation is based on regulations. Below are some examples of the "Obama" regulations that Republicans are going after.

H.R. 872: Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011

Purpose: "To amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act"

- The FIFRA was first passed in 1947 and was last amended in 1996.

H.R. 910: Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011

Purpose: "To amend the Clean Air Act"

- The CAA was first passed in 1963 and last amended in 1990.

H.R. 2018: Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011

Purpose: "To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act"

- The FWPCA was first passed in 1948 and last amended in 1987.

H.R.2587 Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act

Purpose: "Amends the National Labor Relations Act"

- The NLRA was first passed in 1935 and last amended in 1947.

H.R. 2273: Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act

Purpose: "To amend subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act"

- The SWDA was first enacted in 1965 and last amended in 1996.

If these are the "Obama" regulations that are holding back job creation why are they just being revised now? Just imagine how many jobs could have been created in the 1990's if Republicans had the where-with-all that Eric Cantor has now. We could have added tens maybe hundreds of more jobs if these critical issues had been addresses in a timely manner.

Are regulations a pain for corporations? Sometimes. Do they have a significant cost? Occasionally. Do they have a significant benefit? Absolutely. Do they affect job creation? Hardly.

Yet another example of how Republican legislators are using rhetoric to win elections at the expense of the public good.