Over the last few years, I have heard time and time again about the new rules and regulations that are being piled on the backs of our nation’s small businesses and their hard working employees. They aren’t wrong that this it has been a regulatory avalanche: an average of 81 new major rules have been announced by the Obama Administration annually, including a total of 43 major regulations with more than $100 billion in cost. The Obama Administration has issued rules that will easily exceed $130 billion in total, making this administration the greatest issuer of red-tape in American history.

Unfortunately, this may not be surprising, but most of these regulations has come from the agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, and the Securities and Exchange Commission as a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

I have been a longtime supporter of legislation to reduce these costly regulations, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. This bill is simple: it requires the House and the Senate to approve regulations estimated to have an annual economic impact of $100 million of more. The House has passed this bill and it has been sent to the Senate. It is my hope this bill will be one of the first signed into law in the next Administration so we can finally hold these regulations accountable.

Enacting the REINS Act is a great first step but we must also demand meaningful opportunities for public input in the rulemaking process and require agencies to have a cost-benefit analysis for new rulemakings.

This regulatory burden has stifled job creation and lessened economic growth and opportunities for all Americans. The change in Administration in January gives us a real opportunity to advance policies that will reverse this course and get our country’s economy back on track. However, between now and then, we’ve also got to be watchful for and push back against “midnight regulations.” Midnight regulations are rules that an Administration promulgates on the way out the door, often at an accelerated pace. Once rules are put in place, businesses often adjust policies and it can be difficult to undo them once they are in place.

Several easy, meaningful, ways to reduce the extreme regulatory burden that has been placed on our nation’s workers and businesses are included in the Better Way agenda, which can be found at abetterway.speaker.gov. I look forward to working with our new president and vice president to enact commonsense solutions so we can put American workers back on the job and put families and consumers ahead of big government.