Building on his ongoing efforts to reduce burdensome and costly federal regulations that cost jobs and stifle economic opportunity, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-3) today voted for the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.

The bill would require each chamber of Congress to approve regulations estimated to have an annual economic impact of $100 million or more, known as “major rules.”  The REINS Act passed the House during the last Congress with Luetkemeyer’s support and a bipartisan majority, but was never considered by the Senate.

“There is a strong sense back home among Missourians and across this nation that federal regulations are having a devastating impact on our ability to create jobs and get this economy going again and I am hopeful that this bill will turn things around,” Luetkemeyer said. “We cannot allow unelected bureaucrats to impose their will on folks through oppressive regulation. It’s the American people, through their elected representatives, who should be able to decide which major regulations should be approved or rejected.”

According to the American Action Forum, an independent research institution, new rules created by the Obama Administration in 2012 cost our economy $216 billion and created 87 million hours’ worth of paperwork, nearly doubling its previous record.  The group also determined that new rules under the Obama administration have cost the economy a total of $518 billion so far, adding that we should expect to see new regulations costing our economy about $155 billion in 2013.