PODCAST: Regulatory Roundup! Rand Paul’s Resolution

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Senator Rand Paul has introduced a resolution of disapproval of the EPA’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule.  This would completely nullify the expensive rule that the EPA has issued. It’ll take power away from unelected officials and put our elected officials in a position to step up and do the right thing.

Call your Senator and tell them to sign the discharge petition so this can come to a vote on the floor!
 

As explained by the Republican Study Committee, here’s how a Resolution of Disapproval works:

Background a Resolution of Disproval: The Congressional Review Act of 1996 (CRA) established new, expedited procedures for Congress to exercise its oversight authority over agencies’ rulemaking process. The law requires that all final rules issued by federal agencies be submitted to Congress, and Congress is provided a sixty-day period from the date of that submission to act on a resolution of disapproval. A resolution of disapproval is a joint resolution of Congress that, if enacted into law, will nullify the rule (“such rule shall have no force or effect”) and prevent the agency from issuing a substantially similar rule without explicit statutory authorization. 
 
The sixty-day period provided by the CRA is designed to provide Congress with sufficient time to consider any resolution of disapproval. The sixty-day period is exclusive of periods when Congress is in recess or adjourned, and if it extends beyond the point at which a Congress adjourns a session sine die, it begins anew on the 15th day of session after Congress reconvenes. If both houses approve the joint resolution, but it is vetoed, Congress is given an additional 30 days to override the veto. A rule is allowed to go into effect while a resolution of disapproval is pending, but if such a resolution is enacted, the rule is considered as never having been in force. The CRA also requires the implementation of any major rule a rule that has an annual cost of more than $100 million, involves a major increase in costs or prices, or has a significant adverse effect on employment, investment, or innovation be delayed for sixty days. 

While Congress and the President may at any time enact a joint resolution or bill to override an agency action, the CRA provides a resolution of disapproval with expedited consideration procedures in the Senate to simplify and hasten the review process. After the joint resolution has been introduced in the Senate and has been before a committee for twenty days, a petition from any thirty Senators may discharge the resolution from committee and place it on the floor for consideration. The motion to proceed by the thirty Senators is non-debatable and all other possible dilatory actions are prohibited; the debate on the floor is limited to 10 hours, and no amendment is in order. There is no special consideration procedure in the House, but, according to CRS, it would very likely be considered as prescribed by a special rule. 

 

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