The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Week of December 16, 2024

Increasing Efficiency in Congressional Disapproval of Overreaching Rules

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and set up our government, they separated powers between the three branches to prevent too much concentration of power in one department, vesting legislative power in Congress, executive power in the President, and judicial power in the courts. This separation created a system of checks and balances, allowing the branches to hold each other accountable and prevent any one from amassing too much power with their counteracting ambition.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, however, federal agencies are running rampant, expanding their authority by assuming the powers of the legislative and judicial branches, in addition to their executive powers, to the displeasure and detriment of the American people: they issue rules with the force of law, exercising legislative powers; enforce those rules, exercising executive powers; and use their own judgment to settle disputes under them, exercising judicial powers.

To check this overreach of power, the Congressional Review Act of 1996 (CRA) allows Congress to disapprove of agency rules by passing a joint resolution, effectively vetoing dangerous regulations; however, currently, the CRA demands Congress pass a separate joint resolution for each rule it needs to disapprove – slowing Congress’ ability to inhibit burdensome agency regulations and keep the administrative state and its unelected bureaucrats accountable. 

This is especially disrupting at the end of a President’s term, when agencies have historically issued many more regulations than previous years, called “midnight rulemaking,” making it even more difficult for Congress to review and, if necessary, disapprove the agencies’ rules. 
 
It is the constitutional purview of Congress to legislate – not federal agencies. By allowing unelected bureaucrats at these agencies to make laws, the power of the American public to hold their government accountable is completely undermined. We can’t let agencies expand their power without limit – we’ve already seen how frequently federal agencies abuse their authority. 

H.R. 115, the Midnight Rules Relief Act, sponsored by Rep. Andy Biggs, amends the Congressional Review Act to allow Congress to disapprove multiple rules through one joint resolution if those rules were issued during the last year of a President’s term in office. 

House Republicans are stepping up to rein in executive overreach, protect Americans from burdensome regulations, and keep the legislative process transparent and accountable to the American people the way our Founding Fathers intended.