Somerset Daily American: Bureaucrats Should Take Responsibility for Regulations that Destroy Jobs, Reduce Wages

Would you believe that the cost of regulations is your family’s second largest expense?  At more than $14,000, it amounts to almost a third of an average Pennsylvania family’s annual income, according to the Center for Regulatory Solutions.

That is more than the cost of food and transportation combined!

Good regulations are necessary, but excessive regulations hurt the economy and every family and worker in our Western Pennsylvania communities and across the nation.

Few have been harmed more by excessive regulation than our coal miners and their communities.  Miners like Scott, Brandon, Edgar, Denis, Kim, Dave, and Dwight at the Madison Mine in Cambria County work hard every day to power our schools, factories, hospitals, stores, streetlights, and provide the raw materials for the steel industry.

Their way of life is being purposely regulated out of existence.  That fact represents a threat not only to their families and communities but to each of yours as well in the form of higher energy costs and fewer people buying from local businesses.

Coal miners are hesitant to spend their hard-earned pay because they worry that President Obama’s war on coal will cost them their livelihoods.  Many find themselves asking, “Should I buy a new car or make this one last even longer?  Should I make any big financial commitment when I could find myself out of a job in six weeks or six months?”

Before the start of each shift at the mine, all the miners take a knee, talk about strategies to stay safe underground, and hear about what is down the road for the mine and the company.

The miners are frustrated with all the regulations coming from Washington, D.C.  They are forced to spend significant amounts of time complying with endless red tape instead of doing their real jobs producing energy, resting, or spending time with family and friends.

After the shift ends, miners get together before heading home and ask, “Is this war on coal ever going to end or are we all going to be out there looking for new jobs?”

Western Pennsylvania has a productive history, and we benefit today from improvements in technology and regulation that allow us to produce energy more safely and efficiently and with a greatly-reduced impact on the environment.

However, there is a sense that the goal is no longer continuous improvement, but the ideological elimination of a way of life and an essential pillar of our economy.

This way of life means jobs for steel workers, power plant workers, boiler makers, carpenters, and truck drivers.  It means jobs for the limestone miners who make rock dust and the people who make roof bolts, pumps, and conveyor belts.  It means business for diners and mom and pop shops on main streets across Western Pennsylvania.

These coal miners coach football, soccer, baseball, and softball.  Others are band boosters or scout masters.  Many participate in parent-teacher organizations, organize and contribute to school and church fundraisers.  They are pillars supporting their communities.  Who will fill the gap if they lose their jobs?

In an effort to improve thoughtful consideration of the consequences of regulations, last week, the House passed the Rothfus/Barr Amendment requiring bureaucrats to acknowledge if their regulations will have a negative impact on wages or jobs in a particular industry.

Any such regulation would be subject to additional review to ensure that the benefits justify the costs to families and communities.  The principle is simple: if federal bureaucrats are going to implement rules that take wages or jobs from hardworking Americans, they should take responsibility for and justify their decisions.  It is important that regulators think through the impacts, costs, and burdens that red tape imposes on families and communities.

The Rothfus/Barr Amendment passed the House with bipartisan support and was included in H.R. 2804, the Achieving Less Excess in Regulation and Requiring Transparency Act.  H.R. 2804 passed the House on February 27, 2014.  This pro-jobs legislation joins the queue of dozens of pro-jobs bills the House has forwarded to the Senate over the past year.

If you spend time in the mines, you will often hear that “you are your brother’s keeper.”  Coal miners take care of and look out for each other.  President Obama and the Senate should join us in standing in solidarity with coal miners and other workers by approving H.R. 2804.

Dan Miller is a mine electrician at Madison Mine in Cambria County.

Keith Rothfus serves the Twelfth Congressional District, which includes all of Beaver County and parts of Allegheny, Cambria, Lawrence, Somerset, and Westmoreland Counties.