Kerby Anderson

A week ago on radio we started talking about an article that is accurately described as a regulatory game changer. In the article, Kimberley Strassel described a meeting many attorneys had with Todd Gaziano, who is a senior fellow in constitutional law at the Pacific Legal Foundation. In the meeting, he explained to the lawyers how they (and the current president) could use a bill known as the Congressional Review Act. This law can be used to roll back regulations that members of Congress believe exceeds the authority of the federal bureaucracy. Most in the room believed that the law could modify or remove regulations passed in the last 60 legislative days. That means that Congress could address some of the controversial regulations formulated in the last few months of the Obama administration. Todd Gaziano told everyone at the meeting that the law grants members of Congress much greater powers than they had been led to believe. The law requires any federal agency promulgating a rule to submit a “report” on it to the House and Senate. The 60-day clock only starts when the rule is published or when Congress received the report, whichever comes later. Here’s where we are right now. These federal bureaucracies often neglect sending in these reports. That means that there are federal regulations, possibly going back as far as the Clinton administration that could be changed or removed by Congress. Perhaps now you can see why this is called a game changer. By the way, this law also applies to “guidance” issued by federal agencies. For example, the Obama administration issued controversial guidance rules concerning transgender bathrooms based on a bureaucrat’s bizarre interpretation of Title IX. It is possible that the Trump administration could order these federal agencies to make a list of regulations or guidance that have been issued without a report. Once they file the report, Congress could vote them up or down. Yes, this latest revelation is certainly a game changer.