The Obama administration has rewritten regulations governing manure and urinals, and wants to change laws for farms and cement production.

Those are some of the examples U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta gave to highlight what he characterized as "over-regulation" by the Obama administration.

Barletta, R-11, said uncertainty on taxes increasing, "Obamacare" and over-regulation are holding back new jobs from being created in America.

"We just moved ahead of Japan to have the highest business taxes in the world," Barletta said. "This does not create a good opportunity for businesses moving forward when they don't know what those taxes will be."

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Barletta is opposed to President Barack Obama's health-care reform plan.

"Government takeover of health care, I believe, is unconstitutional. I voted 25 times to repeal and dismantle Obamacare because of what effect I believe it will have on industry," Barletta said.

"A recent poll showed 30 percent of employers said they will drop health care for employees by 2014 because of the impact this health care law will have on businesses."

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But over-regulation is what Barletta is most concerned about.

"Former GE chairman Jack Welch said one of the biggest threats to the American economy is 'the uncertainty from this administration and this incredible run on regulation,' which is beyond belief."

Barletta said 382,000 regulators go to work every day for the federal government, an increase of 20,000 between 2009 and 2011.

America was once the leading manufacturer of cement, he said, but now produces only 4 percent because of over-regulation. And this past year, he said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted to impose more regulations "which would basically kill" the industry and affect Pennsylvania.

"I voted against it," Barletta said. "The Portland Cement Co. said the regulations could close 18 more plants, and (result in) a direct loss of 3,000 to 4,000 more jobs. Because of higher cement prices, construction would lose 12,000 to 19,000 more jobs.

"This past July, federal government attempted to regulate - I'm not making this up - the precise moisture, temperature and chemical standards of manure used in producing organic foods. In October, we uncovered the Department of Energy's desire to rewrite the water efficiency standards for our nation's urinals."

New regulations proposed for Pennsylvania farmers include not letting their children run farm machinery, Barletta said.

"They want to regulate the amount of dust on farms," he said. "In Pennsylvania, we should be worried about this, because agriculture is the number one industry in Pennsylvania. They are making it almost impossible for farmers to produce food. When America cannot feed itself, our national security is at risk."

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