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As other politicians scramble to craft affordability messages ahead of November’s congressional elections, Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick came to Philadelphia this week to press his campaign for cutting government “red tape.”
Republican senators in tight races have called for ending the Iran war to bring down high gas prices — a principal cause of recent jumps in the cost of living — and for reductions in President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other trading partners.
But McCormick, who isn’t up for reelection this year, argued during an event at Temple University on Thursday that state and federal policymakers should focus on eliminating what he called “unnecessary” regulations.
He said Pennsylvania has 166,000 regulatory restrictions, or 22% more than the average among U.S. states, citing a 2023 report from the Commonwealth Foundation, a fiscally conservative think tank in Harrisburg.
A more recent study from the Mercatus Center says the number has since fallen to 164,000, putting Pennsylvania in 14th place for the most restrictions.
“All of this comes at a cost. It comes at a cost to working families, according to the Pennsylvania Builders Association. Regulation at every level of government accounts for about 29.5% of the price of a new home,” McCormick said. “But the greatest costs are not just in price. They’re unseen. They’re the cost of investments that are never made, the businesses that are never started, the jobs that are never created.”
Asked about the Republican message to voters, the first-term senator said he always reminds people of the nation’s historically low crime and poverty rates, a new tax deduction for tips, and an accelerated depreciation for small businesses.
“Then I acknowledge the thing that I think we all know, which is gas prices are too high, health care costs are still too high, we’ve got work to do on housing, even though we’ve just passed a big housing bill,” he said. “I think the report’s pretty good, even though there’s still work to be done.”
McCormick hosted his “Red Tape Dialogues” event at Temple to solicit proposals for government reforms from business and nonprofit leaders.
He was joined by former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who championed elimination of business regulations during his two terms in office, and Trump administration officials.
“There are obvious issues that cause affordability to [decline], but the biggest obstacle in affordability is regulations,” said Tom Rossamondo, director of regional affairs at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. “If you learn one thing from me today, please take this to heart: Regulations are a backdoor tax, plain and simple.”
