WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, asked three top regulators in the outgoing Obama administration to cease implementing especially burdensome new regulations.

Johnson wrote to Department of Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy last week asking that the Obama administration cease implementation of its burdensome regulations. Many, including the Department of Labor’s overtime rule and fiduciary rule, the FDA’s industry-killing regulation of e-cigarettes, and the EPA’s redefinition of the “waters of the United States,” would pile significant costs onto American businesses and families and could have severe unintended consequences. These rules are likely to be undone by the incoming administration and the 115th Congress.

“On November 8, the American people voiced their disapproval of a federal government run by regulation and executive fiat. The incoming administration and the 115th Congress will likely re-examine and unwind burdensome regulations imposed by the Obama administration. One example is the Department of Labor’s ‘overtime’ rule, which institutes a one-size-fits-all approach to employment contracts, restricting flexibility and posing serious negative consequences for the American labor market,” Johnson wrote in one letter to Perez. “Given the substantial likelihood that this burdensome regulation will be undone, I urge the Labor Department to cease implementation of the regulation immediately to spare small businesses and industry the unnecessary and avoidable compliance costs that they currently face.”

In a letter to Califf, Johnson wrote, “In light of the significant economic costs on the e-cigarette industry and the substantial likelihood that the incoming administration and the 115th Congress will unwind this burdensome regulation, I call on the FDA to cease its implementation of the current regulation over e-cigarettes. I hope the FDA will acknowledge the reality of the situation and ensure that small businesses and consumers do not continue to incur avoidable financial costs due to this regulation.”

Johnson’s letter to the Department of Labor on the overtime rule can be found here, and Johnson’s letter on the fiduciary rule can be found here.

Johnson’s letter to the FDA can be found here.

Johnson’s letter to the EPA can be found here.

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