The United States just set another record. It’s not a record we would like to brag about. The federal government set a new record by issuing final rules that consume 26,416 pages of the Federal Register. President Obama and his administration have passed a milestone in the number of regulations in one year. No other president and administration have even come close.

The latest evaluation of these regulations comes from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Wayne Crews publishes an annual review of federal regulations with the provocative title, “Ten Thousand Commandments.”

There are 3,659 actual “final” rules in the Federal Register. Those must be obeyed immediately. Then there are 2,594 proposed rules that will no doubt be finalized and then must be obeyed in the future. I might also mention that another 3,305 regulations are moving through the pipeline and will probably be imposed in the future.

There is a cost to these regulations. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial laments that often “politicians and the media treat regulations as a largely cost-free public good.” They are not. Wayne Crews estimates that the economic impact of regulatory compliance in American is about $1.9 trillion annually. This equals the annual GDP of countries like Australia or Canada.

These regulations cost America in other ways. It makes U.S. businesses less competitive. It drives businesses and corporations overseas. And when goods and services do remain in this country, we pay for them because of the costs are embedded in the prices of these goods and services.

Do we need regulatory control? Of course we do. Do we need all of these government agencies making all of these regulations? I think we know the answer to that question.

It is time for Congress to put a halt to a bureaucracy that is making rules and regulations faster and faster. It is time for bold members of Congress to stand up and say the word, STOP.