the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 191, the nays are 230. the motion is not agreed to. the question is on passage of the bill. all those in -- for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? >> i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will go to a voice vote first. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, on that i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 243, the nays are 176. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. he house will come to order. the house will come to order. all members cease conversations. the how it's will come to order -- the house will come to order. he house will come to order.

for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? mr. polis: i have an amendment at the desk to correct the name of the bill to the protect anonymous special interests act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will reminority amendment. the clerk: mr. polis of colorado moves to amend the act read as follow, to protect anonymous special interests by prohibiting the internal revenue service by modifying modifying special interests. the speaker pro tempore: under clause 6 of rule 6, the amendment is not debatable. the question is on the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the noes have it. mr. polis: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise?

mr. polis: i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those in favor of a recorded ote will rise. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. -- a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 177, the nays are 241.

the amendment is not adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 492, resolution providing for consideration of the bill, h.r. 899, to provide for additional safeguards with respect to imposing federal mandates and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 2804. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 487, and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2804. the chair appoints the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, to preside over the committee of the whole.

the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 2804, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to amend title 5, united states code, to require the administrator of the office of information to publish information about rules on the internet and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: i yield myself uch time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: just over six months ago, president obama announced that he would once again pivot to the economy. the bottom line of his speech, after 4 1/2 years of the obama administration, quote, we're

not there yet. the president was right. we're not there -- we were not there yet, nor are we there today. job creation and economic growth continue to fall short of what is needed to produce a real and durable recovery in our country. the nominal unemployment rate is down, but that is not because enough workers have found jobs, it is because so many unemployed workers have despaired of ever finding new full-time work. they have either left the work force or settled for part-time jobs. as long as this situation continues, congress must stay focused on enacting reforms that will stop the losses, rirn america to prosperity -- return america to prosperity and return discouraged workers to the dignity of a good, full-time job. the legislation we consider today is just that kind of reform. through its strong, commonsense measures, the alert act will powerfully and comprehensively reform the federal regulatory system, from how regulations are planned to how they are

promulgated and dealt with in court. this is legislation that congress cannot pass too soon. for a while the -- for while the obama administration's pivot to the economy has faltered, the federal bureaucracy has not waver an instant in its imposition of new costly regulations on our economy. the alert act reresponds by offering real relief to the real americans who suffer under the mounting burdens of regulation. consider, for example, rob james, a city councilman from avon lake, ohio, who testified before the judiciary committee this term about the impacts of new and excessive regulation on his town, its workers and its families. avon lake is a small town facing devastation by ideologically driven antifossil fuel power plant regulations. these regulations are expected to destroy jobs in avon lake, harm avon lake's families and make it even harder for avon

lake to find the resources to provide emergency services, quality schools and help for its neediest citizens, while all the while doing comparatively little to control mercury emissions which are the stated target of the regulations. title 1 of the alert act helps people and towns like rob james and avon lake at that -- avon lake to know in realtime when devastating regulations are planned, comment in time to help change them, estimate their real cost, and better plan for the results as agencies reach their final decisions. consider, too, bob sells, one of my constituents and president of the virginia-based division of a heavy construction materials producer. his company and its workers were harmed by e.p.a. cement kiln regulations that were technically unattainable and included provisions vastly changed from what e.p.a. proposed for public comment.

other e.p.a. emission regulations that were stricter than needed to protect health, jerry mander to impose expense of controls on other types of emission, and which prohibited commonsense uses of cheap and safe fuel that could actually help the environment. and department of transportation regulations that, without increasing safety, vastly increased record eping for ready-mix concrete drivers, unnecessarily limited their hours and suppressed their wages. title 2 of the alert act helps to protect people like bob sells and his workers from regulations that ask job creators to achieve the unyou a cheeveble. do not -- the unachievable, do not help to control targets, suppress hours and wages for no good reasons and inundate americans with unnecessary paperwork. title 3 of the alert act offers long-needed help to small business people like carl harris, the vice president and general manager of carl harris

company in wichita, kansas. mr. harris is a small homebuilder. every day he has to fight and overcome the fact that government regulations now account for 25% of the final price of a new single-family home. mr. harris participants in small business review panels, existing law uses to try to lower the cost of regulations for small businesses. but he has seen firsthand how loopholes in existing law allow federal agencies to ignore small business concerns while checking the box of contacting small businesses. one case is that of the occupational safety and health administration's cranes rule, which was effectively negotiated before small business was ever consulted and threatened to impose disproportion at costs on small disproportionate costs

on small builders. this takes into real account the difficulty small businesses face and lower costs on small businesses that must be lowered. finally, consider and puck ette iii, the four -- puckett iii, a fourth generation business owner. his company distributes bricks to more than 15 states, has second, third and fourth generation employees, offers a fully funded profit-sharing retirement plan, and a 401-k matching program, and has a nurse practitioner come on site twice a month to provide a free clinic to all of its employees. but his company may now be shuttered in the face of two waves of sue and settle brick making emissions regulations that threaten to put his company and others like it out of business. after time-consuming

litigation, the first regulations were thrown out in court. but not before the company had already lost at least $750,000 in compliance costs and the entire industry had lost $100 million. the second replacement regulations threaten to be twice as expensive, so expensive that columbus brick company expects to have to downsize by 2/3 or close. the translation for hardworking americans employed by such businesses is higher prices for goods, fewer job opportunities and lower wages. title 4 of the alert act helps people like allen find out about sue and settle rulemaking deals in time, make sure their concerns are heard by agencies and the courts, and have a fighting chance to achieve a just result for themselves, their employees and the families and communities that depend on them. in all of these ways and more, the alert act brings urgently needed regulatory restorm to

hardworking americans -- reform to hardworking americans, whether they are small business people struggling to be heard by faceless washington bureaucracies, or citizens of small towns crushed by the impacts of regulations that force plant closings, harm families and kill the revenues needed to provide vital services. i thank mr. bacchus, mr. holding and mr. collins for joining with me in offering the individual bills that now come to the floor together as the alert act. and i urge my colleagues to vote for this urgently needed legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. i yield such time to myself as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman -- without objection. mr. johnson: madam speaker, earlier this week we had a declaration that this week would be stop government abuse

week. my colleagues on the other side called for us to commemorate his week by the introduction of draconian antisafety legislation that would allow businesses to declare war on the rules that protect americans, including babies, children and the elderly. and that's why, madam speaker, i rise in opposition to h.r. , 04, the achieving less excess in regulation, and requiring transparency act of 2014, also known as the so-called alert act. the alert act is a continuation of the same republican obstruct at all cost paradigm that led to the sequester and to the shutdown of the federal government. this race to the bottom approach to the regulatory process is wasteful and

dangerous and it prioritizes profits over protecting americans. although the alert act purports to ease the burden of regulations on american businesses, it would not create a single job, grow the economy or help any small business live to. nor does it -- thrive. nor does it address serious issues, the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, pay equity or immigration reform, that would help so many american workers and businesses. instead, the only purpose of this bill is to straightjacket the same rulemaking process that protects countless americans every day. title 1 of the bill imposes a six-month moratorium on rules. the rulemaking process is already transparent, deliberative and exhaustively inclusive of the views of small businesses and other interested parties.

adding an additional six months to this process would do little except to create uncertainty and increase compliance costs. instead of cutting through red tape, title 2 of the bill would add procedural and analytical requirements to the rulemaking process. . this is yet another reason why this bill would streamline the rule make predictability that small businesses rely on to make long-term decisions. and in case the first two titles didn't adequately convey the message that the republicans are dead serious about helping deep-pocketed interests create regulatory miss chief and confusion in-- mischief and confusion instead of offering solutions, titles 3

and 4 would allow virtually any party under the sun to challenge a proposed rule in federal court no matter their connection or lack thereof to the issue. make no mistake, this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. it would jeopardize critical public safety and safety regulatory protections and undermine the very small businesses it claims to protect. by giving a handout to well-funded organizations to hallenge proposed rules, creeds and settlement agreements at every opportunity, the alert act would stack the deck against the american public and against the public interest and the american taxpayer. who would be harmed by this regulatory -- deregular tore and anti-regulatory -- deregulatory and anti-regulatory train wreck?

every american who wants to be able to breathe fresh air and who wants to drink clean water. every mother who wants a safe rmula for her baby and cribs that don't collapse on the baby in the middle of the night, every small business competing for an edge in a marketplace dominated by large well-funded competitors, and the list goes on and on and on. hope you'll join me in my observation of stop government abuse by republicans week and in my opposition to the alert act. i urge my colleagues to oppose this dangerous legislation, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam chairman, it's now my pleasure to yield four minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding, a member of the judiciary committee, and a contributor of one of the bills

that has been included in the alert act. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for four minutes. mr. holding: madam chairman, i rise in support of h.r. 2804, alert act, and i'd like to thank chairman goodlatte and chairman bachus and the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, for their hard work and contributions in making this legislation better. in my district in north carolina, small businesses are a primary driver of the economy. the businesses, like many across the country, are being harmed by excessive regulations. excessive regulations mean lower wages for workers, fewer jobs and higher prices for consumers, and oftentimes, madam chairman, small businesses are not given enough notice of how new regulations will affect their everyday operations. they are faced with tough decisions, whether to cut workers' hours or wages or adjust their business plan elsewhere. that's why i introduced the alert act, to ensure the administration publishes its regulatory agenda in a timely manner and provides annual disclosures about planned regulations, their expected

costs, final rules and a cumulative regulatory costs in general. during president obama's first term, our nation's cumulative regulatory costs burden increased by $488 billion, compounding the problem this administration has failed to make public as required by law the effects of new regulations in a timely, reasonable manner. the administration is required to submit a regulatory agenda twice a year, but they have consistently failed to do so on time. and you'll recall, madam chairman, that in 2012, the administration made neither disclosure -- made neither disclosure, which was required by law, until december, after the general election. this deprived voters of the opportunity to see how proposed regulations would increase prices for household goods, led to stagnant wages and decreased job opportunities. this spornt when federal

regulations already place an average burden of almost $15,000 per year on each american household. that's not a burden that folks in this economy or really any economy should have to bear. madam chairman, this bill is not about sutting down the regulatory process -- shutting down the regulatory process but provided much-needed sunlight and transparency. it provides monthly online updates on planned regulation and their expected costs so that everyone who is going to be affected can know in real time and how to plan for the regulation' impact or how to cast their vote. the alert act is comprehensive reform that promotes economic growth, takes steps toward reforming the regulatory system and provide the government accountability that our citizens deserve. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the gentleman from virginia

reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: i would yield to mr. barrow for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. mr. barrow: i thank you, madam chairman, and i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam chairman, i rise in support of h.r. 2804, the all economic regulations are transparent, or alert act, of 2013, and in support of the miller-courtney amendment. i'm pleased that this legislation includes the regulatory flexibility improvements act, a bill for which i am an original co-sponsor, with my republican colleague from alabama, mr. bachus. there are 30 million small businesses in america and they employ over half of our work force. these are companies in my district liar sarah's in the city or a cafe in augusta. every day they help american families and drive commerce. i rise in support of the miller-courtney amendment. in february of 2008, 14 people were killed and 40 people were injured in a combustible dust explosion at the imperial sugar refinery in georgia. since then i worked with my

colleague, mr. miller, to pressure osha to mitigate this known hazard. i'm hopeful that osha can complete this long overdue work in this area to not let this happen again. we need to get people back to work and create good-paying jobs. that's why i support the courtney-miller amendment and the underlying bill and with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam chairman, at this time i yield two minutes to the gentleman from missouri, mr. graves, a member of the small business committee. the chair: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. graves: thank you, madam chair. i want to thank the chairman of the committee for working with us today. i rise in support of h.r. 2804, to the alert act. this legislation represents a very important effort to bring some common sense and transparency to an

out-of-control regulatory process that's stifling growth and especially among small businesses. i'm especially pleased that this legislation, which the committee on small business worked on, h.r. 2542, the regulatory flexibility improvements act. i'm pleased it was incorporated into the alert act. again, i want to thank chairman goodlatte for working on the title of this bill. for over 30 years, agencies required for the r.f.a. to examine the impacts on regulation -- of regulation on small businesses. those impact are significant -- those impacts are significant. they need to consider less burdensome alternatives. the problems is that agencies still fail to comply with that law and the result is unworkable regulations that put unnecessary burdens on america's best job creators, which are small businesses. in numerous hearings over the years, the small business ommittee has heard about the regulations has had on manufacturers and small

businesses. small businesses have to spend more time and money on regulatory compliance paperwork. the regulatory flexibility improvements act is going to eliminate loopholes that agencies have used to avoid compliance with the r.f.a. most importantly it requires agencies to generally scrutinize the impacts regulations on small businesses before they're finalized. examining whether these are less burdensome or less cost -- examining whether or not these are less burdensome or less costly just makes common sense and reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens frees up some scarce time, it frees up money and resources that small businesses can use to expand their operations and hire employees. the regulatory flexibility improvements act is bipartisan legislation. it has strong support among the business community, and it simply requires agencies to do their home work before they regulate. and if agencies do their work, more americans are going to be working. and with that, madam chair, i'd

yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: madam chair, i'd yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from texas. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for four minutes. ms. jackson lee: thank you. i want to thank my good friend, congressman johnson, for his leadership and the management of this legislation. i thank the chairman as well and for the kurt cisextended to members to -- courtesies extended to members to allow us to have a vigorous discourse on issues that impact the lives of the american people. i'd just like us to take a journey down memory lane, and i'm sure that many of us will e reminded of the famous pinto and the original crafting of that automobile. no commentary on the great industry that so many of us admire, but for those of us who have memories, we realize some of the injuries that occurred

in the structure of the pinto. or maybe cars without seat belts or air bags or maybe we recall times when we traveled throughout our community and we noticed not only a heavy fog but polluted air. maybe some of us have been exposed to polluted water. or maybe you've traveled internationally, even in the 21st century, seen the conditions that many who live outside of the united states live in. the utilization of dirty water because they have no other water. or the food danger because it is not regulated. well, my friends, unfortunately the legislation that is here on the floor of the house seems to take us backwards down a poisonous memory lane. so it is very difficult to support this legislation. i said today in a committee hearing that i know that members come here with good intention, so i will not

attribute to anyone that this bill does not come to the floor with good intentions, but it is a bill that has not been as a whole considered by the judiciary committee. it is now being brought to the floor with three separate bills combined, now called the alert bill, but it really imposes unneeded and costly analytical and procedural --, costly, analytical and procedural requirements that would not allow them from performing their statutory responsibilities from protecting the public health and safety. it creates unnecessary regulatory legal uncertainty, increases costs for businesses and state, local and tribal governments and impedes plain common sense. i will offer an amendment dealing with the homeland security. we have just had a hearing today and emphasized the importance, if you will, of the work of the homeland security department. with our new secretary of homeland security, secretary

johnson, we are very much on the right track recognizing franchised terrorism, the needs for securing the border. many of the work done by homeland security is a regulatory structure, and i would insist that why would we ant to impede securing america ? well, my colleagues, this is what would happen with this legislation, the all economic regulations are transparent act. that is not the case. i had an amendment dealing with baby formula. for those of us that raised children as mothers, who tend to their needs as they are newborns and used an infant formula, it is well-known that there is a great need to regulate companies that man infant formulas in an effort to protect babies from food-borne illnesses and promote healthy growth. the f.d.a. on thursday announced plans to revise earlier this month infant formula regulations with an

interim final rule and that will be published soon. but guess what, the legislation that we have will stand in the way. an iron wall, if you will, prohibiting any rule from being finalized until certain information is posted for six months. how long will six months be in the life of an infant? may i have an additional minute, two minutes? mr. johnson: i yield an additional one minute. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for an additional one minute. ms. jackson lee: clean air, clean water act, so overriding any aspect of regulating this important food product, adding more than 60 additional procedural and analytical requirements to the f.d.a.'s work on trying to help babies and making it easier for rules to be delayed or stopped by allowing regulated industry and anti-regulatory entities to intervene. and so in actuality this is not saving money. of ll be a quagmire

spending money. and the innocent lives of babies, who demand the responsibility of adults to protect the food product that they need for life, that will be stopped. well, madam speaker, i don't want to go back down memory lane of horrible car crashes and no seat belts and no air bags and polluted air and dangerous water, and that is what we will be doing. i look forward to introducing on the floor regarding the u.s. department of homeland security. i can't imagine that my colleagues would want to stand in the way for securing america. that at in mind, i hope we will find a way to defeat this legislation or to make it better and ask our colleagues who are they standing for. yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. goodlatte grat it's my pleasure to yield one minute to the

majority leader, mr. cantor. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman from virginia. madam chair, i rise today in support of the alert act and in defense of working middle-class families who face the danger that overzealous washington regulators will destroy their jobs and impose new red tape that cuts their wages. an america that works allows small businesses to flourish. jobs can be created. and for folks to have more take-home pay in their pockets. but america doesn't work when washington regulators impose more red tape on businesses, large and small, regardless of the costs. this bill fixes that. i hear a lot on this floor about the warnings of days gone by and the fear mongering attached to trying to instill accountability

on this bureaucracy in washington. i don't think any of us on either side of the aisle wants to defend overzealous democrats and imposing unnecessary burdens that have clogged this economy. now, america doesn't work when special interest groups use the courts to impose backroom regulations that destroy jobs and reduce take-home pay. this bill before us fixes that. make no mistake, excessive red tape hurts working middle-class families. for example, it was reported that a proposed osha regulation would impose costs on the growing domesticic energy sector equal to 1,120 per affected employee. these employ yes, sir should not have to -- employees should not have to worry about smaller paychecks and another emerging

practice of washington regulators that hides the real impact that excessive regulation has on jobs. under the pretense of minimal regulatory impact, this administration argues that the jobs lost for instance in mining, manufacturing or construction will be offset by new jobs in regulatory compliance. therefore, a majority of their regulations look a lot better and not as harmful. this is wrong. this is not being straight with the public. we must deliver transparency and accountability on the part of this administration and its bureaucracy. i doubt it is any solace to the plant worker who loses his or her job because of regulations because a new job in another sector will be created to comply with these regulations. today, we'll consider an amendment by our colleague, the gentleman from pennsylvania, to mix these problems.

this amendment will help protect middle-class jobs and wages. it is exactly the kind of reform that will make america work again. americans should not have to settle to the new normal of slow economic and job growth that the obama administration has seemed to embrace. we in this house reject this new normal and we will continue to fight to create an america that works again. i want to thank the gentleman from virginia, chairman goodlatte, representatives holding, and i urge my colleagues in the house to support working middle-class families by supporting this bill. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. , . johnson: madam speaker mining, construction work, manufacturing, those are the

kinds of livelihoods that have made this country a great nation, people being able to go to work with a lunch box in hand and work hard every day, make a $7.25 wage -- by the way an hour for a full-time worker would equate to about $14,000 500 a year. -- 14,500, that is not enough for a working person to raise a family and take care of that family. they need help when they make $7.25 an hour. they would need help from the government if they couldn't rely on friends and relatives for support. and that's a shame in this day and time where a person working a manufacturing job or even a job in a mine or on a

construction site would be making $7.25 an hour. we should perhaps, madam speaker, be paying attention to income generators such as that kind of legislation as opposed to legislation like h.r. 2804, which would simply make it difficult to protect those workers in those unsafe occupations like mining, like construction work, like manufacturing, keeping the work site, the job place safe, regulations are what do that. with that, i would reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: at this time, it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, the chairman of the natural

resources committee. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hastings: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise to support this measure and the portion that is sponsored by our colleague from georgia, mr. collins, that willville transparency of settlement practices. in 2011, the administration entered into a mega settlement which was a closed-door settlement with two groups that increased the habitat designations that could impact tens of thousands of acres and thousands of river miles across the country. these settlements shut out effective states, local governments, private property owners and other stakeholders who deserve to know what is the current and best scientific data that is being used. in my own district, official wildlife listed a plant subspecies despite clear data that it was not likely to go

extinct. settlement deadlines trumped the science. these settlement listings could reimpact five western states a next year the listings of the greater sage grouse could cover 250 million acres in 13 western states and the long-eared bat that could impact midwestern and eastern states. but that's not all, the settlement mandates decisions for 374 aquatic species in gulf of mexico. the point is, important e.s.a. decisions should not be forced by arbitrary court decisions or deadlines or negotiated behind closed doors supposedly on behalf of the public interests. this legislation ensures that affected states and other parties can have a say before an unelected judge signs it and

ensures that no settlement moves forward without the public knowing what's in it. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: oh, how i wish my friends on the republican side of the aisle cared as many about -- much about america's workers as they do about america's big businesses. , how i wish they cared more to let a minimum wage bill come to the floor, where international that most members of the house of representatives would find it within their hearts to realize that $7.25, just can't make it on that without help. and everyone who goes out and

works hard evidence should be -- every day, should be able to be paid a fair, living wage and be able to support themselves and their family. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: at this time, it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. smith, a member of the judiciary committee and chairman of the science, space and technology committee. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. smith: i thank the gentleman from virginia, the chairman of the judiciary committee for yielding me time. -- pport h.r. 2804, acheesk the alert act. one of the biggest concerns that i hear from texas employers is the avalanche of unnecessary federal regulatory costs.

regulation redirects scares capital to compliance with the federal government. in fact, the small business administration has determined that federal regulations cost the economy $1.75 trillion each year. his commonsense legislation is regulatory relief bills that the judiciary committee has worked on in recent years to protect businesses. i authored two of the bills that are included in h.r. 2804 and appreciate they are being considered again this congress. the alert act adds transparency to the regulatory process. it strengthens existing laws in order to prevent federal agencies from bypassing cost-benefit analyses designed to protect small businesses and requires federal agencies to pick the least costly alternative rule to achieve that statutory goal. .r. 2804 limits organizational

-- organization' ability to bring federal lawsuits against federal agencies. these result in one-sided regulations that shuts stakeholders out of the process. the alert act restores the proper balance to consent decrease and settlements. madam chairman, i thank chairman goodlatte and my colleagues for their efforts to provide much needed regulatory relief to american businesses and i urge adoption of h.r. 2804 and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. the majority deliberately downplays the benefits of regulation and exaggerates the cost of regulation, when in fact the benefits of regulation far exceeds the costs, whether those benefits are defined in monetary terms or in terms of promoting values like protecting public

health and safety and ensuring ivil rights and human dignity. the explosion that occurred down in texas not too long ago that wiped out an entire town -- i believe it was a fertilizer plant. many lives lost. there had been adequate legislation and adequate regulation to protect those people and the workers in the plant, then those folks would still be here today. and what we're doing with this legislation is preventing the promulgation of the kinds of rules that would protect the health and safety of people throughout america, not just

workers, but people who are -- who have to eat, people who have to drink, people who have to breathe. of regulation far outweigh the costs. the 2012 draft of management and budget report that the cost and benefits of regulations concluded that the net benefits of regulations promulgated through the third fiscal year of the obama administration have exceeded $91 billion. this amount, which includes not only monetary savings, but also lives saved and injuries prevented, is more than 25 times the net benefits through the third fiscal year of the previous administration. and these are important points that i believe my friends on the

other side of the aisle like to omit from their analysis. with that, i'll reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: at this time, it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. barrr. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. . . . mr. barr: my friends on the other side of the aisle talk about the importance of taking into consideration workers in america. and i would submit, madam speaker, that if we truly are interested in the interests of american workers, we vote immediately to pass regulatory relief in the form of the alert act. if my friends on the other side of the aisle were truly interested in the welfare of the working people of america,

they would stop the overburdensome regulation that's putting the american people out of work. in kentucky, in my home state, if you don't think this is true, consider the facts and the facts are these. that the unemployment rate in eastern kentucky is 1.5% higher than the national average. there's not a recession in eastern kentucky. it's a depression. and it's a depression because of overburdensome regulations coming out of the e.p.a. which are putting thousands of my fellow kentuckians and all of our fellow americans out of work. these are heartless policies. we've lost 7,000 jobs in kentucky's coal mines in just the last five years, putting coal industry employment in the commonwealth to its lowest level since 1927. you want to talk about the welfare of workers, these people need paychecks and it's because of unaccountable, un--

overburdensome regulation, unaccountable bureaucrats in the executive branch that these people no longer have an opportunity to provide for their families. this is wrong. we need to roll back these burdensome regulations, and i'll say this in conclusion, madam speaker, and that is that it is dangerous when we combine legislative power into the hands of the executive branch. madison in federalist number 47 , in quoting, the accumulation of all powers, executive, legislative and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many and whether he had red tear may justly be pronounced the definition of tyranny. there can be no liberty when the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person. that's what's happening in america today. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. barber: i yield back the balance of my time -- mr. barr: i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. the chair: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: i will reserve the

balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam chairman, at this time it's my pleasure to yield four minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mr. back us, the chairman of the regular -- mr. bachus, the chairman of the subcommittee who has worked so closely with us on this legislation and who is the sponsor of one of the pieces of the alert act. the chair: the gentleman from alabama is recognized for four minutes. mr. bachus: when the law is against you, argue the facts. when the facts are against you, argue the law. when the law and the facts are against you, yell like hell and call your opponent names. and that's what we are seeing here. this is a good law that we're proposing. the facts are on our side, so -- and i got to hand it to the gentleman from georgia. crib collapsing, baby formula

you've g republicans, done a good job. et's go back to the facts. get rid of the rhetoric and talk about the facts. the number one fact is that america's out of work. .he chairman mentioned that andy barr, the gentleman from kentucky, talked about people out of work. this country needs jobs. you've called us, that we're against the american worker. we want the -- we want the american worker. we want people to have jobs, and to be an american worker, you have to have a job. we can talk about the wages, but when you're unemployed there is no wage. talk about american dream, owning a home. not anymore. just having a job.

and 14% of our gross domestic product is absorbed by federal regulation. now, some of those are good regulations. we're not down here on the floor wanting to repeal some safety regulations for cribs. we're not trying to loosen the regulations on baby formula. we're attacking -- and let me say there are good regulations, there are bad regulations and then there's some really ugly regulations. $1.8 trillion is the annual price tag in complying with federal regulations. that's not income tax. that's not health care. that's federal regulations. the small business administration, not some republican, said it costs

$11,000 per american worker to comply with federal regulations. $11,000. we're not saying that all of that's bad. what we're saying of the hundreds of thousands of federal regulations -- and by $520 , $1.8 trillion, million of that burden was passed in the last four years and there's $87 billion worth of regulations waiting just this year to be passed. now, the federal reserve and treasury, they testified at the financial services committee every year and they say if you can increase the gross domestic product by 2%, we can create jobs. 2%. if we can grow it from 2% to 4%. let me submit that in that 14% of the gross national product

that's absorbed by federal regulations, we can find one out of seven of those regulations that we can change. i'll close by telling you a good one. the chairman started by talking about the cement industry. the e.p.a. proposed a regulation that would have put 200,000 american cement workers out of work. we asked why, they said because of mercury and arsenic in the air. we had a map and it showed no mercury and arsenic around our cement plants. and we said, where's this mercury and arsenic coming from? china and mexico. mr. goodlatte: madam chairman, it's my pleasure to yield an additional minute to the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: our response wasn't to go to mexico or china. well, it was, really. it was to raise our standards or tighten our standards three

times more stringent than the e.u. it would have cost all the profits of the cement industry for 25 years to comply. and when i asked someone at the e.p.a., wait a minute, the pollution isn't coming from our plants. it's coming from mexico or china. they said, it's not our problem. yes, it is. just like andy barr's problem is his workers are being put out of a job. that's all our problem. it's my problem, it's your problem, it's his problem. we're up here standing for the american worker. if we grow this economy by 2% or 3% we won't have a problem with jobs, and these regulations will start that process. thank you, mr. speaker. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. he gentleman speaks eloquently as a lawyer, and he makes

excellent points. regulations do cost. so out of a $15 million gross omestic product, $1.8 trillion dedicated for regulatory expenses, which protects lives. i can't put a value on one human life, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people dying because of unsafe conditions on $1.7 b is certainly worth trillion out of $15 trillion na year. but i will yield to -- trill in a year. but -- $15 trillion in a year. but i'll yield to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. cartwright, for four minutes. the chair: the gentleman from

pennsylvania is recognized for four minutes. mr. cartwright: thank you, madam chairman. this bill is being brought to the floor during this week that has been labeled stop government abuse week. i'm here to say this is a bill that has some stopping power all right. it would stop the government from protecting our health and safety by bringing the regulatory process to a grinding halt. i want to address title 1 of this anti-regulatory package right now. it includes the tax of the all economic regulations are transparent act. this legislation, madam chair woman is unnecessarily burdensome for agencies. agencies are already required to provide status updates twice a year on their plans for proposing and finalizing rules pursuant to the regulatory flexibility act and executive order 12866. this legislation would require

agencies to report monthly. they are already required to report twice a year. this takes them to monthly. it's incredibly burdensome on agencies, but the most egregious provision in title 1 would prohibit agency rules from taking effect until the office of information and regulatory affairs required by the bill online for at least six months. from the notice and comments requirements of the administrative procedure act or if the president issues an executive order, therefore it delays most regulations by an additional six months. and i think we can all agree that transparency in the rulemaking process is a good thing, but this bill sacrifices common sense in the name of improving transparency without achieving any kind of meaningful transparency. agencies already make significant amounts of

information available during the rulemaking process. on the website, regulations.gov. this bill would simply require agencies to make information publicly available, but it doesn't do that. under this had bill, an agency could post information about the costs of a proposed rule on its own website for a year, but if the administer of the office of information and regulatory affairs didn't post the information for at least six months, the agency would be prohibited from finalizing the rule. madam chair, my amendment would strike the moratorium provision in title 1, striking that provision would ensure that an agency rule will not be needlessly held up because the office of information and regulatory affairs did not post a piece of information online for exactly six months. i've been assured by the congressional budget office that my amendment is revenue

neutral. i urge members to vote for my amendment, and i yield back with my thanks. the chair: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam chairman, the only speaker on our side is my close. if the gentleman from georgia will proceed. the chair: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you. madam speaker, my colleague from alabama said that we all need to come together and find real solutions to create jobs. i submit that one way that we n create jobs in addition to making sure that we have equal y for equal work and that we

have increased the minimum wage to a living wage, another way to do that is through immigration reform. the chamber of commerce and small businesses everywhere have come together in support of immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform. why? because it creates jobs. david park, the co-founder and chairman of job creators alliance, wrote in 2012 that, quote, immigration reform is key to spurring innovation and getting the economy back on track. i'm a small business owner who realizes the role legal immigrants play in creating new jobs. as founder and c.e.o. of a boutique merchant bank, i have started -- acquired nearly 30 small and mid-sized companies,

creating hundreds of jobs for americans across the country. and i'm also an immigrant and an example of highly skilled immigrants, educated in the united states, can drive job creation right here. so immigration reform, madam speaker, is a job creator. . we can't seem to get an immigration bill, which, by the way, has been passed by the senate. we can't get it heard by this congress. we cannot bring a bill to the loor that would pass the house that would result in comprehensive immigration reform. we cannot bring a bill to the floor of the house that would provide for a raise for americans who work for $7.25 an

hour, full-time, $14,500 a year. simply not enough to feed their family and take care of oneself. we can't get job-creating bills that would stimulate our economy by providing for dollars to go towards transportation. towards repairing and enhancing our infrastructure. instead, we get caught up on messaging bills, like the achieving less access and regulation requiring transparency act also known as the alert act. i oppose this bill for numerous reasons, the most important of which, it would jeopardize regulatory protections. for example, the bill requires agencies to consider potential

costs and benefits associated with proposed and final rules, notwithstanding any other provisions of law. this supermandate would effectively trump all other statutes such as the clean air act, the clean water act and the occupational safety and health act, that prohibit or limit the use of cost information in setting health and safety standards. in addition, title 2 of the bill would require agencies and federal could you tell us to consider whether a rule has, quote, significant adverse effects on the ability of the united states-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and export markets. the practical effect, madam speaker, is that it would require agencies and the courts to consider the business and regulatory environment of other

nations. consider, for example, a proposed rule that imposes heightened clean air requirktse on american steel manufacturers. h.r. 2804 would necessarily require consideration whether this regulation which could potentially result in higher compliance costs, could make american steel products less competitive in a country such as china, that has a much less stringent or no regulatory regime. while the economic analysis under this requirement maybe deceptively simple, its dangerous ramifications for public health cannot be understated. chinese officials have only recently begun to acknowledge the health hazard risks presented by extensive air pollution and if you have been over there and tried to breathe,

you know that the air is greatly polluted over there. so the chinese have finally awakened to that fact, but the end result is that the public health of americans and the safety of the environment would be compromised so that american manufacturers can better compete with their foreign counterparts. this is a shortsided regulatory race to the bottom that prioritizes profits over saving lives. another fundamental flaw with h.r. 2804 is that it will greatly length then and not shorten the already time-consuming process by which federal rules are promulgated. avoiding undue delay in regulation because it is important to protect americans in every aspect of their lives. on average, madam speaker, it

takes between four to eight years for an agency to promulgate a new rule. ut instead of streamlining the rule-making process, this bill extensively adds numerous procedural hurdles to the process. in title 2 of the bill, 60 additional procedural steps to the rulemaking process are included. not only that, title 2 reinstates a long discredited rulemaking process that requires trial-type process. this time-consuming process was widely rejected decades ago as being highly ineffective. recently, proposed regulations that could be impanthed by this and other provisions in the bill include rules implementing the

food safety modernization act, standards to reduce food contaminant, like salmonella that would help prevent 1.75 million cases of illness, strengthening -- anything thing that would be interrupted, another rules process. strengthening chemical facility accident prevention standards in response to the 2013 fertilizer explosion in west texas that resulted in the deaths of 12 volunteer firefighters and two other individuals. another interruption would be preventing the ffer and distribution of tainted and ounterfeit prescription dwrugs drugs. also impacted, the implementation of the justice department's national standards to prevent, detect and respond to prison rape.

another interruption, adjusting the reimbursement rates to medicare providers for in-stage reenal disease, setting payments undermary care physicians the vaccines for children program. it would also stop the establishment of meal requirements for the national school lunch program under the healthy hunger kids act of 2010. it would prevent implementation h-2 ndards for visa -- visas in the united states. and for all of those reasons, madam speaker, i oppose this legislation and i would ask my colleagues to do the same. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized for five remaining

minutes. mr. goodlatte: i yield myself the balance of the time and i urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. let's begin by reviewing the facts. $1.8 trillion-plus and that is just federal government regulations mind you, that is not state government regulations or local government regulations, $1.8 trillion dollars, one/eighth of the total production, spent on government regulations. some of those are necessary and this by no means eliminates the regulations but puts them through a process where we know that the regulations are needed and in the most commonsense way. lower costs for goods and services. lower taxes for americans who face right now an average per

family cost of $11,500 a year in higher costs of goods and services and higher taxes as a result of regulatory burden. imagine what it would do to job creation in our country. we talked a lot about manufacturing today. last year, first time in history, manufacturing in the united states reached $2 trillion in production, $2 trillion. sounds remarkable until you consider that regulations cost $1.86 trillion, just federal government regulations, almost wiping out the entire economic production of the manufacturing sector of our economy if all those regulations applied to manufacturing, which, of course, they do not. consider the impact on individuals, consider the impact upon rob james, a city councilman in afeon lake, ohio

reduced periencing revenue because regulations of power plant -- with unnecessary had logical-driven, anti-fossil-fuel regulation are projected to destroy jobs. consider the job loss in the siness of mr. alan pucket in his brick company who expects to lay off 2/3 of his employees because of the second round of the emissions regulations where someone sues the regulatory agency and makes a settlement of that in a friendly case that mr. and his employees didn't know about the suit and couldn't

enter it and this is what is going to happen. consider the impact on the cost of buying a home, one of the basic parts of the american ream when mr. carl harris of wichita, kansas said one-quarter of the cost of a home today is in the form of regulation. the cost of those regulations. with this regulation in place, businesses across america and workers across america will experience an increase in their profitability and increase in their wages. we don't need to have government interference in the marketplace with regard to wages. they would rise on their own if the government would take practical steps in reviewing regulations before they are implemented in this country. and finally let me say that this is all about individual and their freedom. government regulations suppresses ideas, implementing

new ways of doing things. yes, we need to have regulations to protect safety in the workplace, yes, we need regulations to protect the environment, but they need to be commonsense regulations that are going about doing what needs to be done and no more and in the most effective way and they are going about doing what needs to be done that the people who are going to be impacted, who are going to see businesses lost and workers lose their jobs and no notice that this is going to occur. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia yields back. all time for general debate has expired. pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. in lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on oversight and government reform printed in the bill, it shall be in order to consider as an

original bill for the purpose of amendment under five-minute rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rules committee print 113-38. that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. no amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those 361. ed in house report 11- each such amendment may be offered in the order only printed in the report by a member designated in the report, shall be considered read, shall be debated for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, shall not be subject for demand for division of the question.

the chair: it is now in order to consider amendment number one printed in house report 113-361. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. johnson: as the designee of mr. cartwright, i'm offering amendment number 1. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report number 113-361, offered by mr. johnson of georgia. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 487, the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. this amendment simply strikes the moratorium provisions in title 1 of the bill. madam speaker, a regulatory moratorium makes absolutely no sense.

caps sunstein former head of the office of regulatory affairs, observed, quote, a moratorium would not be a machete but a nuclear bomb in the sense that it would prevent regulations that cost very little and have very significant economic and public health benefits. this is yet another an amendment by the majority to obstruct at all costs and stop all regulations. in the last congress, we considered h.r. 4078, which would have imposed a moratorium for any quarter where the bureau of labor statistics' average unemployment rate is equal to or less than 6%. although the republican-controlled house passed the bill, it,