Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration bill by a vote of 75-20. The bill is funded through 2014.

The bill’s passage is major news after four years of trial and error, resulting in 23 temporary extensions. It will provide infrastructure improvements, next generation air traffic control and common sense regulatory reforms that won’t hinder growth. This is great news for American manufacturers.

Job creation and infrastructure investment are two of the NAM’s top priorities and this legislation takes important steps toward accomplishing them. The House passed the bill on February 3, by a margin of 248-169. The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature.

Manufacturers were well represented on Capitol Hill today as NAM Executive Committee member and Chair of the Small and Medium Manufacturers Group Kellie Johnson, President of Ace Clearwater Enterprises, testified on behalf of small businesses and manufacturers.

Kellie Johnson, NAM Board Member, testifies before the House Ed & Workforce Committee

The House Committee on Education & Workforce held their first hearing of 2012 entitled, “Expanding Opportunities for Job Creation”. Ms. Johnson was chosen to testify because of her insight into state initiatives for job creation, the effects of federal policies on job creation, and the challenges facing small businesses within the current economic environment.

While in front of the powerful House committee, Ms. Johnson highlighted the ways in which federal regulations burden small and medium manufacturers differently than their larger counterparts, specifically citing recent decisions and regulations from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

She hammered home the point by stating, “The uncertainty of our regulatory and economic environments makes it almost impossible for short or long-term business growth, especially for a capital intensive industry like manufacturing. To be compliant with the newest regulations and rules takes time away from running the day-to-day operations of a business. Resources are constantly rerouted away from customers, resulting in lower productivity and lower customer satisfaction.”

Additionally, Ms. Johnson took the opportunity to speak about the impediments to job creation arising from regulatory overreach from the viewpoint of a small manufacturer was a chance to emphasize the importance of manufacturing to economic growth. To read her full testimony click here.

Today EPA air chief Gina McCarthy said that the final Boiler MACT regulations won’t be issued until May. The Boiler MACT regulations have been creating a great amount of uncertainty for manufacturers and will cost jobs. EPA released the revised proposed rules on Dec. 2 and just last week a judge removed the EPA’s stay on the original rules finalized in early 2011.

The Council of Industrial Boiler Owners estimates that the revised rules will put 232,078 jobs at risk and cost more than $14.5 billion in compliance costs. Manufacturers simply cannot afford this regulation to be piled on top of the already cumbersome regulatory burden they face.

The NAM has been urging the Senate to move forward with legislation to address the Boiler MACT rules and finally create some certainty. Business owners are eager to invest to grow and create jobs but regulations like Boiler MACT continue to be a bump in the road on the way to economic growth and jobs.

As much as EPA would like people to think they can resolve all the issues with this regulation they simple do not have that ability. Legislation under consideration by the House and Senate would provide EPA with the tools to make these regulations achievable and provide manufacturers with the time they need to comply.

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a stay of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). This action will stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing this rule until the DC Circuit has completed full consideration of the legal challenges against it.

The EPA issued the CSAPR in July 2011. The rule replaces the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) that the D.C. Circuit determined was unlawful in 2008 and would implement a portion of the Clean Air Act that prohibits states from allowing emissions of pollutants in amounts that will contribute significantly to air quality problems in other states. The rule would require power plants in the middle and eastern portions of the U.S. to reduce emissions that contribute to ozone and/or fine particle pollution.  It also sets up an emissions trading program.  Had the court not granted the stay, the rule would have taken effect on January 1, 2012, an unprecedented short period of time between the finalization of the rule and its implementation.

At the end of 2011 it’s apparent that our economic recovery has been modest at best. A robust economy can be difficult to achieve under even the best circumstances, but it is made even more difficult when faced with a hostile environment for private enterprise. Manufacturers should be freed from unnecessarily burdensome regulations if they are to lead the economy. Efforts to foster economic growth and job creation have been stymied by an avalanche of overregulation from government agencies. A year-end review of the regulatory action taken by government agencies tells a sad story – one that manufacturers hope will reverse itself in the coming year.

This year alone we saw the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and other agencies place more obstacles in the way of job creation and insert themselves further into the day to day decisions of manufacturers. Here are just a few examples:

2011 was a banner year for overreach for the NLRB, including the ambush elections rule, the decision in the Specialty Healthcare case, and the now-resolved complaint against the Boeing Company. These actions from the board have the potential to create disruptive and adversarial relationships between employers and employees - a result that simply isn’t conducive to growth. The NAM is currently suing the NLRB to prevent the implementation of the poster rule, a rule that has been delayed repeatedly after requests by the judge to allow time for a decision in the case. An NAM survey about the NLRB’s agenda revealed that nearly 70 percent of respondents said the NLRB’s actions will hurt job creation.

The EPA has put forth new rules and regulations that come with high price tags and puts hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.  The costly and harmful Boiler MACT regulations checks in at $14.5 billion and threatens approximately 230,000 jobs. Sadly, it seems that the EPA may have outdone themselves with the Utility MACT rule – one of the most expensive regulations in EPA history –would have a draconian effect on power plants across the nation. According to the EPA’s own analysis, the Utility MACT regulation could cost more than $100 billion in the coming years and destroy an average of 183,000 jobs per year for the next decade.

The DOT pulled the rug out from under manufacturers that built their logistical operations based on the current trucking hours of service rule and have invested heavily in compliance since their implementation. Released just last week, the revised final rule will have a negative impact on manufacturers’ supply chains, distribution operations and productivity. To change these rules and limit the flexibility of manufacturers without sufficient reasoning is a mistake and will impede the ability of manufacturers to invest, grow and create jobs.

For manufacturers, a year living under the yoke of this overregulation is a year of living dangerously – hopefully Washington will come to its senses before it’s too late.

On Saturday the Senate approved the conference report for H.R. 2055, the final fiscal year 2012 spending measure that will fund the federal government through September 2012. The President is set to sign the bill any time before the expiration on December 23 of a six-day continuing resolution that both houses passed so that necessary steps could be taken to implement the $1 trillion omnibus.

One important provision in the spending measure that has been overlooked is language that prohibits the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children (IWG) from completing the draft report that proposed alarming guidelines for food marketing unless the IWG “complies with Executive Order 13563.” The executive order affirms the principles of sound regulations and reads:

Our regulatory system must protect public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation.  It must be based on the best available science.

In its proposal for sweeping guidelines for food marketing, the IWG fails to provide evidence that their recommendations would reduce childhood obesity by any measure. Furthermore, the IWG does not account for the impact of the proposed guidelines, failing to address expected costs or benefits.

According to the President’s edict, the U.S. regulatory system “must take into account benefits and costs, both quantitative and qualitative.” Moreover, the proposed nutrition guidelines conflict with standards set by other federal food programs including USDA’s Women, Infants, and Children program. The President’s executive order explicitly promotes greater coordination across agencies.

The NAM is committed to ensuring the IWG complies with the letter and intent of the legislative language included in H.R. 2055.

The food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry in the United States employs 14 million workers, generates sales of $2.1 trillion annually and contributes $1 trillion in added value to the economy every year. The IWG’s proposal would hinder economic growth and cost jobs at a time when the economy can least afford it.

Manufacturers applaud the actions of Congress and urge the IWG to comply with the spirit of the law.

Erik Glavich is director of legal and regulatory policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Subcommittee (SEAB) on Shale Gas Production released its second and final ninety-day report which analyzes the progress that has been made on the recommendations of its previous report, issued on August 18, 2011. The new report criticizes federal agencies, state governments, industry and public interest groups for not moving quickly enough on its recommendations of increased regulation on hydraulic fracturing – a critical technology that allow us to access the nation’s rich shale gas resources.

For example, the SEAB urges more regulatory action on the following areas:

• Air Emissions – Even though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently working on regulations that would reduce emissions at hydraulic fracturing sites, the SEAB’s report claims the proposed rules do not go far enough and should be expanded to include more wells.
• Chemical Disclosure – The SEAB wants to see more disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid and believes that there should be an extremely high bar for trade secret protection. The subcommittee quickly discounts current efforts underway including voluntary disclosure websites such as fracfocus.org and the Department of Interior’s (DOI) intent to require the disclosure of fracturing fluid composition on federal lands.
• Water Discharge Standards – The EPA is currently in the process of studying the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water and has also announced a schedule setting waste water discharge standards for some fracturing activities. The SEAB, however, believes that the EPA should not wait until the study is complete to take additional regulatory actions.

The SEAB’s draft report outlines unrealistic expectations and does little to highlight the efforts that industry and regulators have already made to ensure that these activities are conducted safely. It is unreasonable to expect that industry and federal, state and local regulators could institute complex new regulatory programs in three months. Increased access to our nation’s shale gas resources means more affordable energy and more jobs for our nation’s struggling economy. The SEAB’s recommendations to pile on unnecessary and complex regulations could quickly put an end to the nation’s shale gas revolution.

Overregulation is a job killer and hurts businesses and economic growth across America. The current drive to impose more and more burdensome regulations is an albatross around the necks of manufacturers in the U.S.  You’ve heard it countless times from the NAM and other business organizations and a poll out this week from Wells Fargo/Gallup documents the fact that business owners believe the most important problem they face is complying with government regulations. 

Gallup also notes that the poll indicates that:

“Looking ahead to 2012, approximately one in three small-business owners say they are very or moderately worried about going out of business. About the same number are worried about not being able to compete with large or global competitors, not being able to hire the number of employees they need, and not being able to pay their employees. Thirty percent worry they will have to reduce their number of employees.”

As the NAM’s Manufacturing Renaissance notes, including regulatory costs it’s already 20% more expensive to manufacture in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. Unnecessary regulations simply make it harder for businesses to succeed. These results make it clear that we need to limit the red tape and bureaucracy that manufacturers face in order to restore economic growth and job creation.

This morning the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing that focused on many of the recent actions of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The hearing was titled “Culture of Union Favoritism: Recent Actions of the National Labor Relation’s Board.”

One of the witnesses was Curtis L. Mac who served as a regional director for the NLRB for five years and also served as an NLRB attorney in Cleveland. In his testimony Mr. Mack makes it clear in his testimony that he believes the recent actions by the NLRB interfere with employers’ rights to communicate with employees:

I believe theserules and decisions come at the expense of employees and emasculate Section 7 of the Act. They will interfere with employees’ rights to decide for themselves whether to join a union or refrain from joining or supporting a union. These actions will also interfere with employers’ rights to communicate with their employees regarding unionization issues. In short, the only beneficiaries of these new rules and decisions are unions.

In the conclusion of his testimony Mr. Mack states that he believes the recent decisions by the NLRB on the Specialty Healthcare case and Lemons Gasket Co case is the board’s attempt to implement the Employee Free Choice Act, which Congress rejected:

I believe that Specialty Healthcare, Lemons Gasket Co. and the proposed rules are the Board’s response to the failure of the Employee Free Choice Act. That proposal would have by passed secret ballot elections and required employers to recognize a union 14 on the basis of cards signed by employees publically. Congressappropriately refused to deny American workers their right to a secret ballot, but the Board’s proposals and decision seems to be an attempt to salvage the heart of EFCA.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today held a hearing to examine the impact of federal regulations on businesses and jobs.  You can view Chairman Issa’ s opening statement here.

The hearing comes alongside a new report from the Committee entitled “How the Administrative State has Broken President Obama’s Promise of Regulatory Reform.”  The report sheds light on exactly how big the federal regulatory state is.  For example, it notes that “proposed rules have increased from 2,044 in 2009 to 2,439 in 2010.”   And, “the Obama Administration has imposed 75 new major regulations costing over $38 billion annually.”

And it’s only going to get worse: “The number of full time regulatory employees is expected to reach an all-time high of 291,676 in 2012″ and ” [O]f the 4,257 regulatory actions in the pipeline, 219 are considered economically significant, meaning they are estimated to impose a cost of $100 million or more on the economy.”

The full report is available here and video of today’s hearing should be online soon here.