Support the Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act, H.R. 4434

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor the Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act, H.R. 4434, introduced by Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine). This bipartisan bill would require that a Senate-confirmed official initiate and sign off on new rules issued by the federal bureaucracy.

The executive branch is an overgrown labyrinth of bureaucracy and a far cry from what the founders envisioned. Executive agencies are filled with entrenched career bureaucrats that are in large part unaccountable to the American people.

The President is responsible for the entirety of the executive branch. However, the bloated nature of bureaucracy makes it nearly impossible for him to be aware of every rule issued. This obscures responsibility and reduces accountability for the rules issued by the executive branch.

One of the consequences of a large executive branch is that it removes the President from the rulemaking process and instead places that burden on the employees of various administrative agencies. Delegating authority to executive agencies gives enormous power to unelected Washington bureaucrats, many of whom do not go through the Senate confirmation process. Allowing low-level bureaucrats to initiate and issue rules further obscures responsibility for the actions of the executive branch.

The Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act would require new rules that come out of the federal bureaucracy to be signed off on by officials who have gone through Senate confirmation. By requiring high-ranking officials to be the ones that sign off on rules, this bill makes clear who is responsible for decisions and takes power out of the hands of deep-state career bureaucrats.

For these reasons, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor the Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act, H.R. 4434.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon,
President, FreedomWorks