# Plain Language Summary: The SCRUB Act of 2023

This bill creates a new government commission tasked with finding federal regulations that are outdated, overly burdensome, or no longer necessary, with the goal of eliminating or simplifying them to reduce costs on businesses and the economy. The commission would be made up of nine members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with expertise in how government regulations work. These members would review existing rules in the Code of Federal Regulations—essentially the rulebook for how federal agencies operate—and recommend which ones should be repealed or changed.

The commission would focus especially on rules that have been around for more than 15 years, rules that impose major costs on the economy (over $100 million annually), and rules that hit small businesses particularly hard. The bill sets an ambitious goal: the commission should try to cut at least 15 percent from the total cost of federal regulations while keeping them reasonably effective at protecting public interests. The commission would have real power to investigate, including the ability to demand documents and testimony from government agencies and hold public hearings about which rules should go.

The bill also includes a "regulatory cut-go" provision, which means that whenever a federal agency creates a new regulation, it would have to eliminate or reduce existing regulations to offset the cost of the new one. This is meant to prevent the regulatory burden from continuously growing. Any new major rule would need to be balanced by eliminating regulations that cost at least as much as the new rule. The commission would have five years to complete its initial review and make recommendations to Congress about which rules should be eliminated or reformed.