U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) co-sponsored an amendment introduced yesterday by U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (Okla.) to the Senate’s unemployment insurance extension bill (S.1845) that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing any new regulation until it publicly reports how the agency’s existing regulations under the Clean Air Act are impacting the economy and job creation.

“I continue to hear from struggling job creators and small business owners in Missouri and nationwide that excessive regulations and high utility bills remain some of the biggest obstacles to job creation and economic growth,” Blunt said. “If we really want to address our long-term unemployment problem, it’s time that the EPA and the Obama Administration actually take into account the economic impact of their costly and onerous regulations.”

“Our economy has struggled to regain lost jobs from the 2008 recession largely in part to the Obama Administration’s costly regulatory agenda,” Inhofe said. “While the President likes to tout that the economy is recovering, behind closed doors his administration is creating regulations that are stifling innovation, production and job creation. Under the Obama Administration, the EPA has finalized countless regulations affecting every industry and preventing millions of American jobs from being created. My amendment is a common-sense solution to help bring an end to our long-term unemployment crisis and to bring much-needed transparency to the EPA’s reckless regulatory policies.”

The amendment would enforce section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act, which requires the EPA to conduct a study on how its regulations are affecting employment across the economy. In addition to Blunt, the amendment is also co-sponsored by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and U.S. Senators John Cornyn (Texas), and David Vitter (La.).