Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) introduced the Midnight Rules Relief Act (H.R. 5982) to halt the implementation of high-cost or politically-driven regulations during the last days and months of the Obama administration.
The Midnight Rules Relief Act creates a rapid-response method for Congress to act when an outgoing presidential administration attempts to impose major regulations without the transparency and scrutiny expected in normal regulatory implementation. The bill specifically amends the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to allow CRA resolutions that disapprove of multiple midnight rules to be passed by the incoming Congress, allowing Congress to better scrutinize and stop midnight rules which are truly problematic—such as those that defy the message sent by the voters or those that have been poorly designed in the haste of the midnight rule period.
Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, and Chairman Pete Sessions issued the following statements upon the introduction of the bill.
Subcommittee Chairman Issa: “Presidents from both parties have made habit of using midnight regulations to sneak in the few remaining parts of their agenda just before the clock runs out. Our bill will keep outgoing Administrations in check by ensuring new regulations attain the proper level of scrutiny by Congress and the American people. Many of these new rules and regulations come at a tremendous cost to small business and our job creators. We need to ensure these rules aren’t rushed in to fulfill some partisan agenda and that the people’s elected representatives have the opportunity carefully review them.”
Chairman Goodlatte: “The regulatory agendas of presidential administrations are often fiercest in the last months and days of that administration. These midnight rules are passed before time runs out on a presidency, and can too easily go unchecked by Congress. What the American people are left with are regulations issued by presidential administrations that often have a far more lasting impact than the administration itself.
“Midnight regulations should be subjected to even greater transparency, public scrutiny, and congressional oversight because the rules are often introduced with political motivations or to make one final push for an outgoing administration to complete their political agenda in office.
“Providing a mechanism to overturn President Obama’s midnight regulations will deter the practice in future presidencies, and allow Congress to take greater control over the runaway administrative state we have seen arise in recent years.”
Chairman Sessions: “American families and job creators have paid a significant price for this Administration’s aggressive regulatory agenda. Lack of scrutiny, flawed cost-benefit analysis, and lack of transparency and public participation have defined the skewed rulemaking process embraced by President Obama and his agencies.
“House Republicans have proposed a number of critical reforms to return sanity and balance to the way regulations are written and implemented. Without exception, these reforms have been largely rejected by this Administration. Now our economy faces an even greater threat – regulations issued at the end of this Administration that, based on historical trends, will be the product of political expediency rather than economic benefit and careful analysis.
“We have a responsibility to the American people to ensure the Obama Administration cannot further cripple our economy by pushing through costly and political regulations at the last hour of their occupancy of the White House without reasonable and responsible oversight.”
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