Leader McCarthy to press regs assault

The Kevin McCarthy era is under way, and with it a fresh assault on federal regulation.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) formally begins his tenure Friday as House majority leader, following the surprise primary defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who will step down later this month.

Under Cantor, the House approved several bills designed to tamp down on the Obama administration’s regulations by restricting the reach of federal agencies and halting funds for the promulgation of new rules.

{mosads}Newly minted Leader McCarthy signaled plans to double down on the effort in an op-ed penned for The Washington Post.

“The House will assert itself as a co-equal branch of government, as our Founders intended,” McCarthy wrote. “And we will vote to place sensible checks on the administration’s regulatory overreach so that red tape doesn’t choke our fragile economic recovery.”

The initiative is likely to center on regulations related to energy and the environment that are at the center of President Obama’s climate change agenda.

Republicans have accused the administration of stifling a domestic energy boom with onerous rules on the coal, oil and natural gas industries.

In the op-ed, McCarthy railed against ”top-down meddling.”

“[W]e can have North American energy independence and affordable energy for hardworking Americans once we set aside our illogical patchwork of regulations,” he said.