Show i t Uncle Sam grows fatter Is there a famil family in the country that wouldn't scream if it came home from a weekend trip hip to find it had been robbed of 2000 Unbeknown to most families that's how much they're losing every year The culprit doesn't wear a mask he wears a beard and top hat His weapons are are a myriad of federal regulations And his name of course urse is Uncle Sam The magnitude of the federal federa regula- regula regulatory tory apparatus is staggering writes Idaho Congressman George Hansen in a recent newsletter to his constituents Just h in the area of the standard independent regulatory regulatory regulatory regula regula- tory agencies the number has doubled in inthe inthe inthe the past 10 to 24 years There are now row more than federal bureaucrats with regulatory functions in these agencies A Library of Congress study indicated that in 1974 while Congress was passing laws the federal bureaucracy was churning out regulations I Hansen a Republican continues The TheOffice TheOffice Office of Management and Budget the Executive Branch's bookkeeper estimates esti esti- estimates mates that regulations cost billion a year or or 2000 per family in inflated prices additional costs to consumers ers and lost productivity For example example tHere are more than different government forms which are required d to be med by businesses at ata ata ata a total annual estimated cost of 40 bil bil- lion Some of the regulations even go so far far far-as as to stifle competition and create monopolies For instance the Interstate Commerce Commission prohibits competition tion by prescribing routes carriers may travel commodities they may carry catTY and anCl the size and conditions of loading Two other agencies singled out by the Idahoan as being both in conflict with ith the Bill of Ri Rights ha and doing violence to the small business and small towns of the nation nation na tion lion are the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Congressman also indicts the Consumer Product Safety Commission two of whose memorable reports were on how to strike book matches and how to get into and out of bathtubs Hansen rec recently launched bunched a national effort effort ef ef- ef fort to alert citizens as to their legal rights when confronted with Big Brother Brother- ism in m violation of such Constitutional guarantees as trial by jury and no illegal search and seizure He also makes a goodcase good goodcase goodcase case for a bill before Congress called the Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 The bill bilT would require the President to submit reorganization plans for these agencies at specified times during the next four years plans that would make the agencies leaner less oppressive less duplicative and less costly These are just some of the much needed needed needed need need- ed ste steps we can take to bring this monster monster mons mons- ter under control controls he argues persuasively We will have to do it if ii democratic government is to survive |