Representative Jackie Walorski (IN-02) Wednesday stopped in Marshall County as part of her district-wide ‘Get Regulation Out of the Way’ (GROW) tour. Over the next two days, Walorski will visit manufacturers, local businesses and farms to hear how federal regulations have affected their industry.
During her stop at Nishikawaka Standard Co LLC (NISCO), Walorski toured the facility and met with employees to hear how federal regulations have impacted the hiring of employees, future growth, and productivity of the company.
Since 2012, 500 major federal regulations have been issued, costing taxpayers, including business owners, almost $2 trillionin compliance. A ‘major’ regulation is anything expected to have a $100 million annual effect on the economy. According to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, business owners have cited regulations as a top impediment to conducting business for over 65 months in a row.
“Marshall County businesses employ over 16,000 workers and federal regulations are forcing businesses like NISCO to spend time, money, and energy to ensure they’re in compliance. In fact, every dollar used to comply with the over 80,000 pages of regulations from the EPA is money they could have used to hire more workers,” Walorski said. “Instead, it’s wasted following the arbitrary rules put in place by unelected bureaucrats. I’m thankful for companies like Plastic Solutions, Inc. for continuing to employ Hoosiers and I’m committed to growing our economy by ending job-killing regulations that are crippling Indiana businesses.”
Cooper Standard is one of the top suppliers worldwide for systems and components for the automotive industry. Since the company’s start in 1960, Cooper standard has grown to employ over 27,000 people globally. They are currently ranked in the top 30 in sales and the top five in return on invested capital.
“I want to thank Rep. Walorski for visiting and fighting on our behalf in Congress to reduce the regulatory burden we face on a daily basis that hinders our ability to grow and hire more workers,” said Steve Folden, NISCO’s Bremen, and Fort Wayne, and Topeka’s general plant manager.
Last month, Walorski supported legislation to prevent burdensome federal regulations from crushing manufacturers with unnecessary costs. H.R. 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which requires any rule or regulation with an economic impact of $100 million or more to come before Congress for a vote before taking effect.
“The Indiana Manufacturers Association appreciates Congresswoman Walorski’s efforts to bring attention to the problem of burdensome federal regulations,” said IMA Communications Director Charlene Hickey. “Her support of legislation in the House, like the REINS Act, will hopefully slow the implementation of ill-conceived federal regulations that increase costs, reduce business investment, and prevent hiring.”
