EASLEY — Rep. Jeff Duncan stopped by the Easley Rotary club on Tuesday to give what he referred to as a “Washington update” to his local constituents.

“It’s great serving Congress,” Duncan began. “But it ought to be a lot more fun than it is right now. We should have gotten a lot more done that we promised the American public we would do. It’s been a little frustrating — actually a little more than frustrating — since January for a lot of different reasons.”

Duncan said the list of accomplishments was “a lot more impressive” than what the media gives credit for with consumer confidence at a 16 year high and unemployment at a 16 year low.

“How they judge consumer confidence, I don’t know, but I guess the polls and all they do tell us it’s at a 16 year high,” he said. “What’s Congress done to facilitate that? Well, right out of the chute we used the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which is a way that Congress can roll back certain regulations that were passed in the last, I think, 100 days of the last administration.”

Duncan said with the CRA, the House passed 16 different regulation rollbacks, 14 of which were signed by President Trump.

“The total number of pages (in January) in the Federal Register — that’s where all the federal regulations are posted — is 97,110,” he said. “That’s 18,000 pages more than what was there in ‘08. That’s a lot of regulations.

“And if you’re running a small business or a large business … any sort of business that emits an air particulate, whether it’s sawdust or whether it’s carbon, you’d experience some sort of regulatory intrusion on your business,” said Duncan. “(These regulations) cost you more just in compliance with red tape. Congress recognizes that and we started rolling that back as soon as we could in January — and you don’t hear about that a lot in the news because those are regulatory rollbacks.”

In reference to his position on the environmental rollbacks, The Sentinel-Progress inquired as to what if any regulations Duncan would be in favor of when it came to companies emitting air particulates.

The Congressman’s office had yet to respond by press time.

Rep. Jeff Duncan stopped by the Easley Rotary club on Tuesday to give what he referred to as a “Washington update” to his local constituents.
https://www.theeasleyprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_duncan.jpgRep. Jeff Duncan stopped by the Easley Rotary club on Tuesday to give what he referred to as a “Washington update” to his local constituents. Britt Wyatt | The Sentinel-Progress

By Kasie Strickland

kstrickland@championcarolinas.com

Reach Kasie Strickland at 864-855-0355.