Much of this process is necessary to give the regulators as iron-clad a case for regulating as possible. Congress often has little ability to impact these outcomes, other than writing the original law, which is where the authority to regulate originates. It is the courts that decide if the regulation goes too far, unduly harms businesses or the economy and whether it must be rewritten or is struck down, temporarily or permanently. Most often the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit is where the battle is waged. That’s why there is a perennial fight to seat judges in this court, which often is a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

As the third co-equal branch of government, Congress has managed to insert itself into this process by passing the Congressional Review Act in 1996. A rarely used statute, it gives Congress the ability to effectively overturn a regulation, but with a number of parameters. The CRA enables Congress to review and override major regulations enacted by federal agencies within 60 legislative days. In the Senate, the vote would not be subject to filibuster (60-vote threshold).

The CRA has been used before, but only once when George W. Bush entered office and effectively repealed unpopular ergonomics regulations. The House has used the law a number of times to take a swipe at many of President Obama’s policies, only to die in the Senate or face his inevitable veto pen. Now that President Trump is in office, the GOP holds majorities in both houses and the executive branch for the first time since 2006. As another useful provision of this law, agencies are not allowed to pursue any further changes to the regulation for a period of time.  

So far Congress — the House specifically — has spent much of 2017 tending to regulations approved in the last year of President Obama’s term, such as:

1) The Stream Buffer Rule would have saddled mines with unnecessary regulations, putting up to 64% of America’s coal reserves off limits and threatening between 40,000 to 70,000 mining jobs. – Signed by President Trump

2) The SEC Disclosure Rule for Resource Extraction would have put an unreasonable compliance burden on publicly-traded American energy companies, putting them at a disadvantage to foreign-owned businesses. – Signed by President Trump

3) The Social Security Service’s Second Amendment Restrictions would increase scrutiny on up to 4.2 million law-abiding disabled Americans attempting to purchase firearms, potentially depriving people of their constitutional rights without proper due process protections. – Passed by the Senate

Others that have passed the House and awaiting Senate action include:
￭ The Federal Contracts Blacklisting Rule
￭ The BLM Venting and Flaring Rule
￭ The BLM Planning 2.0 Rule
￭ The Teacher Preparation Rule
￭ The Education Accountability Rule
￭ The Unemployment Insurance Drug Testing Rule
￭ The State Retirement Plan Rule
￭ The Local Retirement Plan Rule
￭ The National Wild Refuge Hunting and Fishing Rule
￭ The Title X Abortion Funding Rule

As the president and Congress set new budgetary priorities for many federal agencies, voters will be watching to see if these regulatory repeals and others in the works are a benefit to society or not. Republicans are counting on their lack of popularity and ability to spur economic growth as their validation. No matter the outcome, voters will have their say.