House Republicans Target Federal Regulations

House Republicans are seeking businesses’ input in an effort to cut back on regulations deemed too onerous to business, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The Obama administration has proposed regulations on everything from greenhouse gas standards to financial markets, and business groups have asked Congress to roll back or preempt more than 150 such rules, the Post reported in a front-page story.

Business groups are responding to solicitations from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and in some cases are seeking to reopen regulatory debates that they previously lost, the Post said.

Issa, the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will begin a series of hearings Thursday in line with the new Republican majority’s goal of making federal regulations friendlier to business, the Post said.

The trucking industry has opposed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed changes to federal hours-of-service regulations, and FMCSA has agreed to host a public “listening session” Feb. 17 outside of Washington to hear the industry’s concerns.

The Post article did not mention the trucking rule, but did mention airline pilots’ hours of service, in a rule being considered by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Obama said in his recent State of the Union address that he would seek to trim overlapping or confusing federal regulations.