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It might have been helpful if the NYT had asked this question instead of just telling readers that:

“But Senate Republicans rolled out their own jobs agenda and took shots at the Obama administration over what they described as undue restrictions on business.

‘This excessive regulation is really seriously inhibiting our effort to get out of this economic recession and create jobs,’ said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.”

Since there have been few important changes in regulation under President Obama it might have been useful to give readers some idea of what the Republicans are talking about. Otherwise, it sounds like they are complaining that Lake Michigan is inhibiting our effort to get out of recession. It could in principle be true — for example if the Lake had enormous floods — but since the Lake has been there a long time, it is not obvious why it would suddenly cause a problem. The same is true for regulation.