House Majority Leader Cantor says killing regulations will empower businesses to hire. GOP agenda: Kill regulations

House Republicans have laid out their fall jobs agenda, and it mostly revolves around killing environmental and labor regulations while pushing tax cuts for businesses.

For good measure, they’re also planning another round of attacks on the health care reform law.


In a memo sent to his colleagues Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor listed ten regulations he contended were the “most harmful” to job creation and laid out a schedule of when the lower chamber will take up their repeal. Most of the regulations are issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, but Republicans are also zeroing in on the National Labor Relations Board and the health care law.

“By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations, we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers,” Cantor wrote in the 2,064-word memo.

Republicans are also pushing tax relief for businesses. Cantor said the lower chamber is working on a proposal that allows small-business owners a tax deduction equaling 20 percent of their income, which he said will give employers extra cash to hire and keep workers.

The first item House Republicans plan to tackle is a bill that would bar the NLRB from ordering businesses to close or relocate jobs under any circumstances. The matter stems from an April complaint from the NLRB that accused Boeing Company of moving a 787 Dreamliner manufacturing plant from Washington state to South Carolina as retaliation for union strikes at a Boeing facility in Everett, Wash. That vote is scheduled to come the week of Sept. 12, the first full week that Congress is back in Washington.

House Republicans will target the NLRB again in the winter when they take up action in response to the board’s proposed changes to union representation election procedures. Those proposals, Cantor said, will give workers and employers “little time to react to union formations,” which in turn will drive up labor costs and uncertainty for business owners.

Republicans seem particularly focused on overturning EPA regulations — some that haven’t been finalized or even proposed. In September, House Republicans will vote on a bill that analyzes effects of EPA regulations, as well as delaying two agency rules targeting power plant pollution. Next will be legislation that targets air toxics rules for industrial boilers and cement plants.

In October or November, the House will vote on a bill that would bar the EPA from regulating coal ash as hazardous waste. And later in the winter, the House will tackle a bill that would block the EPA from regulating farm dust and repeal the EPA’s pending reconsideration of the George W. Bush administration’s 2008 ozone standard.

Rolling back the health care law is also on the House Republicans’ agenda. Cantor said several House committees are working on legislation repealing rules from the administration that he says prevents people from keeping their health care plans. Those bills are expected to be voted on in November or December.

Cantor also promised to schedule a vote for three pending free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, but said he’s waiting for President Barack Obama to submit them to Congress. And Republicans will also try to overturn rules that require federal, state and local governments to withhold 3 percent of all payments totaling more than $100 million to government contractors.

Democrats dismissed the memo.

“Their agenda seems intended only to provide cover for blocking the kind of pro-growth proposals needed to make a difference,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democrats’ messaging chief, said in a statement.

Cantor’s note comes after House Speaker John Boehner wrote to President Barack Obama on Friday, demanding information on regulations issued by the administration that would cost the economy $1 billion or more.

Robin Bravender contributed to this report.

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