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NFRW Political Briefing

Federal Regulations Cost Reached $518 Billion in Obama's First Term

A recent report by the American Action Forum found that in President Obama's first term in office, the total cost incurred by businesses from federal regulations has been $518 billion, a figure which includes the cost of proposed rules, final rules, and interim rules, and is more than the combined GDP of Norway and Portugal. By tracking every proposed and final regulation that appears in the Federal Register, the AAF compiled its report which is summarized here.

While Obama's Administrator of the White House office of Information and Regulatory affairs, Cass Sunstein, may argue that regulatory rescission saved businesses $2.5 billion last year, any savings were negated by the $236 billion in new regulations that were proposed and implemented.

Last year the White House disregarded its obligation to publish an accounting of regulations in April and October of every year according to the Regulatory Flexibility Act. A spring edition was never released and the fall edition was put out in December. The White House also failed to report new paperwork burdens on businesses as a result of these regulations by not releasing the Information Collection Budget. The White House also never released its "Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations."

AAF points out that while many assume the Environmental Protection Agency is the "sole driver of new burdens," the "top two proposed rules in 2012 and top final rule this year were either energy or fuel conservation rules." 2013 awaits five new conservation rules.

In the past four years, the projected cost of proposed and interim regulations has been much lower than the actual cost of the final regulation except in 2011, when regulations on the whole were curbed. In 2009, the projected cost of proposed and interim regulations was $921 million, but the actual cost was $83 billion. In 2010, the price of heavy regulation was $104 billion more than projected. In 2011, the actual cost of regulations was $144 billion less than projected, but in 2012 the cost of regulations was $195.2 billion more than projected.

In 2012 alone, White House officials instituted regulations costing businesses $236 billion.

These are just some of the AAF findings in the report ◼ Piling On: The Year in Regulation. To learn more about this issue and to see the graphs and charts AAF composed on the 2012 Top Proposed Rules by Cost, the 2012 Top Final Rules by Cost, the 2012 Top Regulations by Paperwork Burdens, and the Industry Regulation Index, which breaks down the financial burden these regulations impose by industry and year, check out the AAF report.

Obama's First Term by the Numbers

Last week, the RNC Research arm released a list of how much President Obama's first four years cost in terms of deficits, regulations, stimulus spending, and the underemployed and unemployed individuals. The following are a few of those figures:
$25.4 Trillion: Projected federal debt in 2022 due to Obama's binge spending (Office of Management and Budget, 7/27/12).

$16.4 Trillion: Current national debt (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/17/13).

$9.2 trillion: Amount Obama's FY2013 budget would add to the debt through FY2022 (OMB, 7/27/12).

$5.8 Trillion: Added to the national debt since Obama took office (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/17/13).

$2.6 Trillion: True cost of ObamaCare once fully implemented (Office of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Report 1/6/11).

$1.75 Trillion: Annual cost of federal regulations (Small Business Administration, September 2010).

$1.18 Trillion: Total cost of Obama's first stimulus with interest (CBO, 1/31/12).
$1.17 Trillion: American debt held by China (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/17/13).

$1.090 Trillion: Federal budget deficit for FY2012--Fourth Highest in U.S. History (CBO, 10/5/12).

$833 Billion: Price tag of Obama's first failed stimulus (CBO, 8/23/12).

$820 Billion: Amount of taxes in ObamaCare (CBO 3/13/12).

$518 Billion: Amount of regulatory burden since Obama took office (American Action Forum, 1/14/13).

$447 Billion: Price tag of Obama's second stimulus (The White House, 9/8/11).

$236.7 Billion: Amount of regulatory burden in 2012 (American Action Forum 1/14/13).

$188 Billion: Taxpayer funds for Fannie May and Freddie Mac (ProPublica, Accessed 10/10/12).

$28.5 Billion: Outstanding government investment bailouts of the auto industry (Treasury Department, 1/10/13).

$24.3 Billion: Amount government expects to lose on bailouts of auto industry (Treasury Department, 1/10/13).

$535 Million: Stimulus loan to the failed solar company Solyndra (The Oakland Tribune, 11/4/10).

46.2 Million: Number of Americans receiving food stamps (Department of Agriculture, 1/4/13).

22.7 Million: Americans unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

12.2 Million: Unemployed Americans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

2.6 Million: Unemployed workers that have given up looking for work (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

757,000: Unemployed veterans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

226,000: Unemployed post-9/11 era veterans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

89,000: The number of stimulus checks sent to dead or incarcerated people (The Wall Street Journal, 10/7/10).

$53,224: Your share of the national debt (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/17/13).

$18,804: Increase in your share of the national debt since Obama took office (U.S. Treasury Department, Accessed 1/17/13).

45,696: Pages of new rules added to the federal register during Obama's first two years in office (Competitive Enterprise Institute, 2011).

$15,500: Annual cost per household from federal regulations (Small Business Administration, September 2010).

61%: The amount by which new offshore leases for oil and natural gas drilling has declined under Obama (FactCheck.org, 10/19/12).

$3,065: Amount of increase of average cost of family health care premiums since Obama took office (The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2012).

7.8%: The current unemployment rate, which is the same as when Obama took office (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/17/13).

Since Obama took office, the unemployment rate for women has increased from 6.9% to 7.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/4/13).

In December 2012, the unemployment rate for women spiked from 7.6% to 7.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/4/13).

Since Obama took office, the African American unemployment rate has increased from 12.7% to 14.0% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/4/13).

In December 2012, the African American unemployment rate increased from 13.2% to 14.0% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 1/4/13).

To access the full list, complete with links, ◼ click here: Obama By The Numbers

“We’re not people to be trivialized, marginalized or demonized as unreasonable. We’re not children who need to be parented or misguided ‘bitter clingers,’” he concluded. “We believe in the right to defend ourselves…We believe in our country, we believe in our Bill of Rights and we believe in our Second Amendment.”

◼ NRA ISSUES ‘MAJOR RESPONSE’ TO OBAMA’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS: NO GOV’T CAN EVER TAKE AWAY OUR ‘GOD-GIVEN FREEDOMS’ - Jason Howerton/The Blaze

Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre issued a scathing review of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, saying the president expects Americans to accept his flawed interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment.

“He wants you, all of you, and Americans across this country to accept the idea of principles as he sees fit,” LaPierre said. “It’s a way of redefining words so that common sense is turned upside down, and nobody knows the difference.”

“We as gun owners face that same kind of false ultimatum,” he added. “We are told that to stop insane killers, we must accept less freedom.”

That is not the solution, LaPierre explained. Nonetheless, Obama believes the only “principled way to make children safe is to make lawful citizens less safe” through gun control.

“Criminals couldn’t care less about Obama’s so-called principles, that’s why they are criminals,” LaPierre said to applause. “You all know that.”

Obama wants you to believe that putting the federal government right in the middle of every firearms transaction, except those between criminals, will somehow make the country safer, the NRA executive vice president lamented.

“He wants to keep all those names in a massive federal registry. There are only two reasons for such a registry of gun owners, that is to tax them or take them,” he added.

...LaPierre went on: “Mr. President, just because you wish words meant something other than what they mean, you don’t have the right to define them anyway you want. Because when words can mean anything, they mean nothing.”

Shopping Around for a Better Life

◼ Thanks, California! Thanks for your monstrous spending and absurd regulatory overreach! America needs you. We need Connecticut and Illinois, too! We need you the way we needed the Soviet Union, as models of failure, to warn us what happens if we believe those who say, "Government can." - John Stossel/Townhall

Moving to California was once the dream for many Americans. Its population grew at almost triple the national average -- until 1990. Then big government, in the form of endless regulation and taxes, killed much of the dream. In the last decade, 2 million people left California.

Many of them moved to Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington or Wyoming. More on what makes those states special in a moment.

When the USSR died, overthrown by its own citizens' hatred of central planning, I assumed the world would acknowledge that big government is a nightmare. But people don't. Our brains are programmed to believe that "next time, central planning will help." So, many people forget the lesson of the USSR.

Fortunately, they can still watch what's happening right now in California, Illinois and Connecticut. OK, those states are not totalitarian dictatorships, but they tax and micromanage so much that they will soon approach bankruptcy, cut services and stagnate.

And Americans have an advantage Soviet citizens never had: 50 states. If we live in a big-government state, we can move.

Happy Anniversary, "Baby"

◼ ‘Happy anniversary, baby’: Mehcad Brooks slammed for ‘sexy’ ad toasting Roe v. Wade decision - Twitchy

◼ Sick: Mother Jones wishes Roe v. Wade ‘happy birthday’ - Twitchy

◼ On anniversary, Obama praises Roe’s ‘guiding principle’; Aborted children can’t write letters - Twitchy

Boom: CBS’ Sharyl Attkisson tears into Obama Admin over Benghazigate

The Obama Admin has indicated it will not be answering Benghazi questions we've been asking since Oct. I will list some of them.

— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) January 22, 2013

What time was Ambassador’s Stevens’ body recovered, what are the known details surrounding his disappearance and death...

— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) January 22, 2013

. ..including where he/his body was taken/found/transported and by whom?

— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) January 22, 2013

◼ Read all the questions, at Twitchy