On radio this morning, Glenn was joined by Congressman Steve King (R-IA) to discuss what is currently going on in Congress. From Obamacare to immigration, the Middle East to the 2014 midterms, Rep. King gave his thoughts on some of the biggest issues facing our country.
To start, Glenn asked Rep. King to explain the work he is doing to curb overregulation. Yesterday, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) released an eye-opening photo that demonstrated in a very tangible way just how bloated our government has become:
Image Source: Facebook
“Behold my display of the 2013 Federal Register,” Lee wrote in the Facebook description. “It contains over 80,000 pages of new rules, regulations, and notices all written and passed by unelected bureaucrats. The small stack of papers on top of the display are the laws passed by elected members of Congress and signed into law by the president.”
“We are so overregulated now, Steve, it is beyond comprehension,” Glenn said. “We don't need a do-nothing Congress anymore because the Administration has taken to regulation like nobody's business.”
“I have long been making an issue out of regulations,” Rep. King said. “And we passed legislation out of the House a year or two ago called the REINS Act that requires any regulation that has more than a $100 million impact, before it could have the force and effect of real law, it has to come back before the Congress for affirmative vote. I have supported that.”
“But it wasn't good enough for me. I have a bill that sunsets all regulation,” he continued. “The agencies have to choose those regulations, offer them to Congress, and if they are not reauthorized, if they are not voted with an affirmative vote out of the House and Senate, they expire. Its sunsets all regulations over a 10-year period of time. All these regulations are designed to give an agency the responsibility of Congress because Congress didn't want to have the heat for those rules.”
When it comes to the hot-topic that is immigration reform, Rep. King believes the urgency of the conversation has slowed somewhat, but he is fearful of what the coming months could bring.
“Last week John Boehner talked about bringing out his immigration principles… Why not just bring them out? So to me that says he's not yet decided what he wants to try… I'm concerned that they will try to set up a stampede and try to get the members to get behind some form of immigration change,” Rep. King explained. “There's nothing they can move through the House of Representatives without border security. [And nothing has] any chance of getting to the President's desk for a signature without amnesty also attached. So therefore, we need to sit back and tell the President: You created Obamacare, so why don't you spend any talents you have trying to fix that monstrosity and leave immigration to someone that actually respects the rule of law?”
Watch the full interview below: