Fairness and transparency. Those are the words that best describe two pieces of legislation my colleagues and I debated and passed in the House of Representatives this week.

We all know the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is intrusive and inefficient with its regulations that it is constantly issuing. And the regulations that are being forced down on our country, and particularly the small business and agricultural sectors, are having a negative impact on our economy each and every day.

Not only are these regulations onerous, but they are crafted behind closed doors, and often are based upon questionable findings that are not published for the public to review. The science behind the regulations coming out of this agency is a critical component to understand and if we can fix those underlying problems, then we will have taken one step in the right direction.

This week, the House voted on the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, which would bring fairness, transparency, and independence to the EPA’s expert panel, which is supposed to provide technical expertise and assistance to EPA officials. In recent years, there have been shortcomings with the current process, including: limited public participation, EPA interference with expert advice, and potential conflicts of interest.  This legislation ensures the science guiding EPA’s regulatory policy is open to all Americans and requires members on the board to disclose their professional backgrounds.

In addition, the House voted on the Secret Science Reform Act, which would give independent scientists a fair chance to validate the studies EPA uses to make new regulations.

You may recall in recent bulletins that I have written I discuss defunding the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC). Beyond my outrage with the president pledging to give $3 billion in taxpayer funds to the UN Green Climate Fund, the president and his administration use secret science to advance their climate agenda.

For example, the IPCC received a great deal of criticism over the last few years, particularly when emails publicly released from a university in England showed that leading global scientists intentionally manipulated climate data and suppressed legitimate arguments in peer-reviewed journals. That is totally unacceptable. As a governmental agency that affects millions of Americans with its regulations – fairness and transparency are two critical components.

There is a great reason why a recent poll from the Institute of Energy Research found that 90 percent of Americans agree that studies and data used to make federal government decisions should be made public. I will continue to work to ensure your government is providing fairness and transparency every single day so you can see what is going on.