Congressional Review Act information

The Congressional Review Act (CRA)^[1] is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress as Subtitle E of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 104–121 (text) (PDF)) and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996.^[2]^[3] The law empowers Congress to review, by means of an expedited legislative process, new federal regulations issued by government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule a regulation.^[4] Once a rule is thus repealed, the CRA also prohibits the reissuing of the rule in substantially the same form or the issuing of a new rule that is substantially the same "unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule" (5 U.S. Code § 801(b)(2)). Congress has a window of time lasting 60 legislative days to disapprove of any given rule by simple-majority vote; otherwise, the rule will go into effect at the end of that period.^[5]^[6]

Prior to 2017, the CRA had been successfully invoked only once to overturn a rule (in 2001).^[7] In January 2017, with a new Republican president (Donald Trump), the Republican-controlled 115th Congress began passing a series of disapproval resolutions to overturn a variety of rules issued under the Obama administration. Ultimately, 14 such resolutions repealing Obama administration rules were passed and signed into law; a fifteenth resolution was passed by the House but failed in the Senate. Because of the shortness of legislative sessions during the 114th Congress, the 115th Congress was able to target rules issued by the Obama administration as far back as May 2016.^[8] In late 2017 and early 2018 Congress passed two resolutions repealing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules made by former President Obama's CFPB Director, Richard Cordray, who did not leave his post until late 2017.

^ "5 U.S. Code Chapter 8 - CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULEMAKING". Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
^ Subtitle E appeared within Title II of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996, and Title II may be cited as the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 104–121 (text) (PDF), Section 201.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2017-04-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Rosenberg, Morton (May 2, 2008). Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking: An Update and Assessment of The Congressional Review Act after a Decade (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015.
^ Oleszek, Walter J. (2014). Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE/CQ Press.
^ Phillips, Amber (April 25, 2017). "Analysis | Why Republicans' 100-day war on Obama is about to end". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ Dudley, Cama (March 7, 2017). "CRAzy After All These Years: Extending the Reach of the Congressional Review Act". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
^ Jason Bellini (February 18, 2017). Trump's Tool for Undoing Obama-Era Regulations (Online Video). The Wall Street Journal. Event occurs at 1:26. Retrieved February 27, 2017. But, if the legislative session ends before lawmakers have had sixty days, the [60-legislative-day] clock resets. So in reality, Congress is able to target over 180 Obama administration regulations issued since May [2016].

[5USCCh8-1] "5 U.S. Code Chapter 8 - CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULEMAKING". Legal Information Institute. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2017.

[2] Subtitle E appeared within Title II of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996, and Title II may be cited as the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 104–121 (text) (PDF), Section 201.

[3] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2017-04-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[4] Rosenberg, Morton (May 2, 2008). Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking: An Update and Assessment of The Congressional Review Act after a Decade (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015.

[5] Oleszek, Walter J. (2014). Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE/CQ Press.

[6] Phillips, Amber (April 25, 2017). "Analysis | Why Republicans' 100-day war on Obama is about to end". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[crazy-7] Dudley, Cama (March 7, 2017). "CRAzy After All These Years: Extending the Reach of the Congressional Review Act". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.

[8] Jason Bellini (February 18, 2017). Trump's Tool for Undoing Obama-Era Regulations (Online Video). The Wall Street Journal. Event occurs at 1:26. Retrieved February 27, 2017. But, if the legislative session ends before lawmakers have had sixty days, the [60-legislative-day] clock resets. So in reality, Congress is able to target over 180 Obama administration regulations issued since May [2016].

Congressional Review Act information

and 25 Related for: Congressional Review Act information

Congressional Review Act

United States administrative law

Filibuster in the United States Senate

Fight for the Future

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Discharge petition

Joint resolution

CRA

Title 5 of the United States Code

Chief Justice of the United States

Every Student Succeeds Act

Susan Collins

STOCK Act

Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

Net neutrality in the United States

Ted Yoho

Clean Water Act

Rulemaking

Stream Protection Rule

Congressional Progressive Caucus

Gina McCarthy

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024

United States congressional apportionment

Rick Dearborn

Ted Deutch

Administrative law of the United States

General
Rulemaking Notice of proposed rulemaking Adjudication Administrative law judge Code of Federal Regulations Federal Register
Statutory framework
Administrative Procedure Act Freedom of Information Act NEPA GSA NEA IGA RFA PRA UMRA CRA FVRA
Regulatory coordination
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrative Conference Executive orders Cost–benefit analysis (Executive Order 12866)
Judicial review of agency action
Arbitrary and capricious State Farm Chevron deference Auer deference Committed to agency discretion Due process Londoner Bi-Metallic Goldberg Mathews Exhaustion Major questions doctrine Nationwide injunction Ripeness Abbott Labs Standing Lujan
Separation of powers
Appointments Clause Freytag Noel Canning Congressional oversight Authorization Organic statute Appropriation Hearings Senate confirmation Independent agencies Humphrey's Executor Seila Law Unitary executive theory Legislative veto Chadha Nondelegation
Related areas of law (and agencies)
Antitrust and competition FTC CPSC CFPB Banking Treasury OCC FDIC FRB Communication FCC Energy DOE FERC Environment EPA FWS Food FDA CDC Health care HHS Immigration DHS EOIR Labor DOL NLRB Patent/trademark PTO Securities SEC CFTC Taxation IRS TC Trade DOC ITC Transportation DOT STB NTSB Social Security SSA
Related topics
Constitutional law Statutory interpretation
v t e