While the 115th Congress begins on January 3 at noon, President Barack Obama will continue to serve in the White House until January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The first 100 days of the incoming administration are expected to be incredibly busy. Obviously, the repeal of ObamaCare is at the top of the congressional to-do list, and action to begin this effort is expected to be immediate. Reining in the regulatory state is another item on which action is projected to be swift.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to make law and to allocate how money is spent in the enforcement of those laws. The president’s role, in contrast, was envisioned by the founders as much more limited. They didn’t want a king, who could govern as he pleased without accountability to the people, and so they restricted his role to Commander in Chief of the military, with the power to make treaties only with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Here’s a multiple choice question for you. Which country best fits the description of being run by nearly omnipotent czars, unaccountable to any overriding authority, free to make set the rules and punish offenders as they see fit, who can only be removed from office by drastic, sometimes revolutionary, action?

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and senators today and urge them to support the “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.” Sponsored in the Senate by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and in the House by Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.),

Americans already face a $1.8 trillion regulatory burden. These heavy costs are passed on by businesses to consumers, who spend almost a quarter of their annual income complying with regulations often approved executive-level agencies, which have effectively become the fourth branch of the federal government.

By 2020, public debt in the United States is set to reach 90 percent of GDP, a line that many economists demarcate as when accumulated debt pushes an economy to the precipice of fiscal demise.  Entitlement spending remains on autopilot and some federal agencies, with “stimulus” money included, have received 180 percent increases in spending.