Democrat criticizes Obama for '4,200 pages' of pending regulations

By Joshua Altman - 11/22/11 12:29 PM ET


Former Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) attacked the Obama administration Tuesday for proposing a litany of new regulations she says are hurting the economy.

"You’ve got 4,200 pages of pending, new regulations to be put on the books that just create huge uncertainty,” Lincoln said.

Lincoln lost her reelection bid last year to Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and is now chairwoman of the Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations campaign at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

The former two-term senator said in August that the goal of the NFIB campaign is to "encourage the administration to take the opportunity now to look at the ways that you can interject things that will create more efficient and effective regulations."

Republicans on Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail have hammered the White House on regulations, claiming "job-killing" rules are holding back the economic recovery and depressing business investment. House Republicans made a drive to eliminate regulations the centerpiece of their fall jobs campaign.

Despite her push to reduce the number of regulations, Lincoln said she does not support eliminating federal agencies, as some of the Republican presidential candidates have proposed.

“This is not a group that is about eliminating agencies or eliminating all regulation. This is a group that understands that clean air and clean water and safety in the workplace are important, but you got to be reasonable about what we’re doing here in terms of what it’s costing small businesses and big businesses.”

While serving in the Senate, Lincoln voted for healthcare reform and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which both require regulators to write hundreds of new rules. Lincoln appeared to suggest in August that she would be open to taking a look at some of the regulations associated with the healthcare law.

“We have to be willing to look as we make this journey in healthcare — not only what we’ve done that’s good, but the things that are not going to work,” Lincoln said. “And we’ve got to listen to the people that are out there implementing it and those that are using it.”


—Updated at 1:41 p.m.