Fixing the Bloated Federal Registry

Our Federal Registry has been growing and there seems to be no end. This is the agency that publish the rules and regulations passed by Congress every year. As of 2012, the Federal Registry consist of over 78,000 pages and ever increasing. I have a few simple ideas for reducing this. It will go a long way to reduce regulations and make our government more efficient. When it comes to bureaucracy, I believe less is more.

-Jun. 2015

My ideas are very simple. I have two major recommendations.

(1) - No new bills should exceed 20 type written pages. If a bill cannot be defined within 20 pages, it needs to be broken up into separate bills. This does not include footnotes and references.

(2) - For every new bill proposed, two existing bill must be retired.

Let me explain. Our bills are becoming too complicated. For example, the ACA bill otherwise known as Obamacare is over 2000 pages long. It is unreadable by anyone except for the lobbyist. Even the Congressmen and Congresswomen who voted for the bill did not read what is in it. This is just insane. It is the source of numerous controversy and court challenges. In another word, it is a lousy bill. Not just the content of the bill but the mechanics of the bill. The number one priority for any bill is that it should be clear and concise and that the average educated adult should be able to comprehend it. The ACA fails on all fronts.

Our Registry is too large and getting larger. There are existing bills and regulations that are obsolete. The only sure way to reduce our registry is to force our Congressmen and their staff to focus on reducing bills while they enact new ones. Here is my simple rule. For every new bill proposed, two existing bills must be retired. That's all it takes! I'm not saying it would be easy but it forces the staff to re-visit some old regulations that are obsolete or are not effective. It would lead to reducing the registry but more importantly, it would reduce the bureaucracy and the costs associated with those regulations.

My idea to reduce the Federal Registry is not partisan. It applies to all parties in control of our federal government, regardless Republican or Democrat. The size and scope of the regulations is what is stifling our economy and our way of life. I subscribe to EF Schumacher's philosophy of "Small is Beautiful".