Who Said President Obama Can't Create Jobs? How About 230,000 Paper Pushers?

Well, at least he's trying to.

The EPA wants to regulate green house gas emissions.  To accomplish this, they are asking taxpayers to fund up to 230,000 new government workers to process all the extra paperwork  This will cost an estimated $21 billion. That cost does not include the economic impact of the regulations themselves.

The best part is that the Clean Air Act doesn't give them explicit power to regulate green house gas emissions.  But hey, since when does the law stop Obama and his flunkies from getting their way?

This is just another example of Obama and one of his czars (this time EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson), attempting to bypass Congress.  They are being challenged in court for just this reason.

The DC reports:

EPA:  Regulations would require 230,000 New Employees; 21 Billion

The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” in application and “impossible to administer” by its self-imposed 2016 deadline. But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules.
The EPA aims to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act, even though the law doesn’t give the EPA explicit power to do so. The agency’s authority to move forward is being challenged in court by petitioners who argue that such a decision should be left for Congress to make.
The proposed regulations would set greenhouse gas emission thresholds above which businesses must file for an EPA permit and complete extra paperwork in order to continue operating. If the EPA wins its court battle and fully rolls out the greenhouse gas regulations, the number of businesses forced into this regulatory regime would grow tremendously — from approximately 14,000 now to as many as 6.1 million.  Read more...