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.
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.”
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