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Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, on the $488 billion worth of regulations the Obama Administration has imposed...
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They are -- 488 billion dollars is bigger than the GDP of many countries.
But that is just the amount of new regulation costs imposed during the Obama administration.
This is according to a new study in joining us with some of the most outrageous and -- some examples is the study's author.
Sam -- his director of the regulatory policy at the American action forum.
Thank you so much for joining us.
This really staggering number how come up with this math.
Well.
Every day we went through.
The federal register all the proposed final rules roughly.
Twenty to thirty regulations.
Each day and we just quantify were -- write down and replicate.
The private sector or unfunded mandate burdens that the federal government publishes each day so agencies -- -- provided the cost estimates.
We're just recording them and telling them up at the end of each week.
Where the end of each year.
Nick -- it's really amazing and I was going to the -- and I picked out some of the most egregious ones let's get right to it.
-- recently -- the EPA utility Mac regulations which is basically the standards to limit Mercury.
Acid gases and other toxic pollution from power plants which sounds like.
A very positive thing.
It cost ten billion dollars in its predicted to force 25%.
Of US electric generation units -- go off line.
What is the benefit because that is a tremendous.
Cost.
Well a lot of the benefits.
That you see federal if you look in the cost benefit analysis there are.
Very small benefits actually from the Mercury reductions the bigger the overwhelming.
Benefit side is that particulate matter benefits that they list but.
Looking through the retirements as a result of this rule the forum the American action forum is look through roughly hundred power plants already.
That have announced closures.
And just last week.
There was a mining company that announced 12100 layoffs so.
When -- it all up you're looking at roughly 101000 jobs that are directly impacted and this rule -- been on the books less than a year.
So -- they have direct employment taxes while.
Yet at this CMS community first choice option was authorized -- Affordable Care Act and provides incentives for states to expand Medicaid coverage.
We do.
Sure the big parts.
Did incur the cost side on that word directly on states that you look the regulation they had a direct -- costs obviously the federal government's gonna spend a lot of money.
Implementing the Affordable Care Act but there's also huge costs for states as well.
If you look at the entire Affordable Care Act it's roughly seven billion dollars.
Just on state impacts that we found so far on the private sector side roughly twenty billion so.
Between seven billion dollar -- so far and the laws still far from fully implemented we won't see that until roughly 2014.
So so ways to -- I would staggering about all these things is that when you isolate you break out what it is it sounds like it's a good idea and that we need regulation.
But I think your point overall is that as we become regulation nation.
Some has to pay the price for this and and it's always going to be the taxpayer of the consumer.
Either way that's UN meet right.
Correct and I think there's always this perception that regulation is only gonna go after the big guys that big utility come frank financial companies.
But oftentimes -- list small business impacts we just recently did a study we look we took.
A handful of rules literally ten rules and that agencies -- cells that could directly impact small businesses from pop shops and just those ten rules was three and a half billion dollars.
-- that's that's ten rules out of its thousands of rules each year so it.
It goes from everybody to an employer of to -- three all the way up to them all -- the big guys.
And people think you're regulating -- passing the cost on to companies -- those companies pass the cost onto the consumer where they hire fewer people that's the problem thank you for coming on.
-- breaking this down for -- it's important for people to know what's going on we appreciate your time.
Thanks much for having me the --
