Lucas Votes to Strengthen Regulatory Accountability and Transparency

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-3) voted this week to pass three pieces of legislation aimed at enhancing the government’s ability to identify overly burdensome regulations and improving the way federal agencies communicate proposed rules with the public. The series of reform bills come after the House of Representatives has moved to repeal 13 Obama-era regulations since the beginning of this year.

“The last eight years of the Obama administration have left our country with thousands upon thousands of pages of additional government rules and regulations,” said Congressman Lucas. “This red tape is a roadblock to renewed growth, siphoning billions of dollars from our economy and hindering new capital investments and job creation.”

“That’s why it’s important for Congress to establish strict guidelines to identify and eliminate regulations that are either outdated or simply unnecessary. These three bills are critical steps toward restoring sanity in our country’s regulatory regime, and I am very encouraged by the progress we are making in Congress to build upon President Trump’s efforts to get our economy back on track.”

The first of the three bills is the SCRUB (Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome) Act, which establishes a bipartisan Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission to identify older and costly rules that impede economic growth.

The second bill, the OIRA Insight, Reform, and Accountability Act codifies the role of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) – an agency tasked with overseeing major proposed regulations – to ensure they can continue to hold back poorly vetted or rushed regulations that could have a significant impact on the economy.

The final piece of legislation is the Regulatory Integrity Act, a bill that provides greater transparency into federal agency communication by prohibiting the agency from soliciting support or opposition for any proposal for regulatory action.