Johnson urges fight against regulation
Senate GOP should work 24/7, he says
Ron Johnson said Wednesday that the U.S. Senate should work around the clock to roll back regulations pushed through by outgoing President Barack Obama’s administration.
The Republican U.S. senator from Oshkosh even volunteered to take the third shift.
Johnson said he made the proposal to his Senate Republican colleagues shortly before being sworn in for his second term. Using the Congressional Review Act — an expedited legislative process — Congress has 60 legislative days to disapprove of new federal regulations.
“I said, let’s not waste our precious resource,” Johnson said. “What we have a limitation of is time. So I said in the United States Senate, at the appropriate time, for as long as we need to to take advantage of the CongresKy.) Review Act, is we ought to go 24/7.”
During an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson laid out his early legislative priorities for the new Congress. He also spoke of the upcoming battle over the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. He indicated that he didn’t want to see Congress repeal Obamacare without a replacement.
“Let’s work at repairing the damage (of Obamacare) and transitioning to something that actually works,” he said. “And that’s going to have to be bipartisan.”
Johnson said the top priority for Congress is getting the economy to grow at its full potential. He said the three elements that need to be addressed are regulatory reform, tax simplification and reform, and utilizing the nation’s energy resources.
‘Low-hanging fruit’
Johnson said regulatory reform is the “low-hanging fruit.” He has been a fierce critic of the Waters of the United States rule, which extends federal regulatory reach into small waterways. He also opposes the Obama administration’s regulation to expand eligibility for overtime pay.
Johnson said the Obama administration “flooded the zone with midnight regulations.” Johnson urged Republicans in Congress and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to set up a task force to deal with the new regulations. Some of them, he said, can be overturned through executive order, others with the Congressional Review Act.
“It’s a big task,” he said. “We have such an enormous web of over-regulation. Unwinding this will be difficult.”
Johnson indicated that if people on a shop floor can work 24/7, so can the U.S. Senate to undo regulations.
“There are plenty of Americans out there working factory shifts, They’re working 24/7, working nights,” Johnson said, adding that he told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Rsional that he was “willing to pull a night shift.”
“I’ll preside at 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning if that’s what it’s going to take to overturn and repair the damage done by this over-regulation,” he said.
On Obamacare, Johnson said he is pushing the Republican leadership to explain the strategy on repealing and replacing the measure.
“What I’m going to be looking for is a complete package,” he said. “You can’t repeal all of Obamacare without help from Democrats.”
Johnson said he was “hopeful of working with Democrats to transition to a system that actually works.”
As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, Johnson will be involved in the confirmation process of Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Johnson said he told Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus that Kelly “would make a phenomenal secretary.”