WASHINGTON — House Republicans have wasted little time in repealing regulations issued by President Barack Obama in the closing months of his administration.
Environmental rules and gun regulations were the first to go in largely party-line votes. Senate Republicans already have passed two of them and are expected to take up the remainder soon. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measures.
Under the Congressional Review Act, the repeal resolutions cannot be filibustered, and GOP lawmakers plan to eliminate other regulations as well.
These N.J. Republicans broke with the party
Except for Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) and Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), all of the state’s Republicans voted to repeal all of the regulations. All seven House Democrats from the state voted no.
“The House used an important legislative tool, the Congressional Review Act, to disapprove and reverse five costly regulations that were enacted hastily in the waning days of the Obama administration,” said John Byers, a spokesman for Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.).
Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3rd Dist.) said the “multiple burdensome regulations” would “harm American small businesses and law-abiding citizens.”
“These excessive government regulations were crafted by faceless government bureaucrats and need to be stopped immediately,” he said.
Also voting yes across the board was Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), who did not respond to a request for comment.
Here’s what House Republicans voted to repeal:
1. Requiring the Social Security Administration to report information about those receiving disability payments for mental disorders.
The rule affects those with mental illness who need representatives to handle their disability and supplemental benefit checks.
Those individuals’ names would be entered into the database used for background checks on gun purchases, and could flag people whose mental illnesses would block them from buying weapons.
USA Today reported that about 75,000 people would be affected. including those with schizophrenia.
The National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, said the rule “would have stripped law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights without due process.”
The rule was a response to the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in which 20 elementary school students were gunned down.
“Many representatives who voted to make it easer for guns to fall into dangerous hands are the same ones who muster no more than hypocritical tweets of ‘thoughts and prayers’ in the wake of headline-grabbing violence,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports gun control measures.
Gun rights groups such as the NRA spent $5.8 million on the 2016 elections, 98 percent in support of Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
2. Requiring oil companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, acting in accordance with bipartisan legislation, ordered energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments. Among the opponents of the rule was Exxon Mobil Corp., whose chief executive, Rex Tillerson, was just confirmed as U.S. secretary of state.
“I think the American people deserve to know if U.S. corporations are secretly paying off hostile governments like that of Vladimir Putin, thereby lining the pockets of despotic regimes that oppress their own people and commit human rights violations around the world,” said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who supported the rule.
Smith was one of only four Republican dissenters.
The oil and gas industry spent $98 million on the 2016 elections, with 89 percent of campaign donations going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
3. Requiring mining companies to clean up after dumping debris in streams.
The Interior Department said the rule would protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests by preventing mining activities that would harm streams, drinking water sources and forests. In addition, companies would have to restore mined areas once their activities ended.
Both LoBiondo and Smith were among nine House Republicans voting no. The two were ranked sixth and seventh among GOP House members by the League of Conservation Voters for 2015, the last year for which statistics are available.
The mining industry spent $17 million on the 2016 elections, 94 percent for Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
4. Limiting emissions of methane, a gas contributing to climate change.
The government sought to limit emissions of methane from oil and gas drilling on federal lands, and House Republicans objected.
“Perhaps no industry in America has been more overregulated in recent years than energy,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said. “There are less costly and more efficient ways to achieve environmental protection without devastating American jobs and energy production.”
The energy industry spent $166 million on the 2016 elections, with 80 percent of campaign donations going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
5. Requiring federal contractors to report allegations of wrongdoing.
The House voted to overturn a rule requiring companies seeking federal contracts to disclose when have been accused of violating federal labor laws.
McCarthy called the provision “an affront to due process” as a company could be blocked from receiving a contract before it had “a chance to defend itself in court.”
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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