Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 85-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 06/17/2011 Page 1 of 4 EXHIBIT A Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 85-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 06/17/2011 Page 2 of 4 t7 June 8, 2011 specifically, how do we get businesses to do more in terms of hiring, spend Iess on redtape, less on bureaucracy, and reduce the regulatory burden in smart ways? The current administration has said some of the right things but actually moved in the wrong direction. We have seen a sharp increase in the last couple of years in what are deemed to be major economically significant rules. That is defined as regulations that impose a cost on the economy of $100 million or more. According to the administration's Office of Management and Budget, the current administration has been regu- Iating at a pace of 84 major rules per year. By way of comparison, that is about a 50-percent increase over the regulatory output during the Clinton administration, which had about 56 rules per year, and an increase from the Bush administration as well. So we have seen more regulations and more significant regulations. I was encouraged to hear President Obama's words when he talked about the Executive order in January, which is entitled "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review." But now we need to see action. We need to see it from the administration, from individual agencies to provide real regulatory relief for job creators to be able to reduce this drag on the economy. One commonsense step we can take is to strengthen what is called the Unfunded Mandates Relief Act. It was passed in 1995. It was bipartisan. I was a cosponsor in the House of Representatives. It is an effort to require Federal regulators to evaluate the cost of rules, to look at the benefits and the costs, and to look at less costly alternatives on rules. The two amendments I would like to offer over the next few days as we consider the legislation before us would improve this Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, and it would reform it in