Today, Congressman Fred Upton (R- St. Joseph) voted in support of the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts to the Nation Act, known as the TRAIN Act (H.R. 2401).The bill requires the President to establish a Committee to analyze and report on the cumulative and incremental impacts of rules and actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning air, waste, water, and climate change for each of the calendar years 2016, 2020, and 2030.  The vote passed on a bipartisan vote of 249 to 169.

“The EPA has released numerous pending regulations that will cost thousands of jobs and impose billions of dollars in costs on our already struggling economy,” Upton stated.  “After 32 consecutive months of double-digit unemployment, Michigan cannot afford the economic costs of more ill-conceived regulations. Today, the agency has more than 300 regulatory actions under consideration and it continues to issue new rules at an unprecedented pace.  If the President is really serious about job creation he must do much more to rein in EPA’s overreach. Regulations do not exist in a vacuum. Industries are not faced with just a single rule; they are forced to comply with layers and layers of them.  Before those rules take effect, we must fully understand the consequences for our economy. The TRAIN act will provide for an honest accounting of EPA’s rules.”

The TRAIN Act prevents EPA from issuing burdensome regulations that would negatively affect job promotion as well as company expansions.  If left unchecked, EPA’s actions would have a devastating impact on jobs, U.S. competitiveness, and domestic energy prices.  Southwest Michigan’s families and small business owners have struggled and sacrificed long enough.