The House is expected to vote soon on a bill that aims to empower elected officials by limiting the ability of Washington bureaucrats, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which was introduced by Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., would require that every new "major rule" proposed by federal agencies be approved by both the House and Senate before going into effect, the Examiner reported Monday.
The REINS Act describes a "major rule" as any federal rule or regulation that may result in an annual economic effect of "more than $100 million, a major increase in consumer prices, or adverse effects on competition, employment, and investment, among other strictures," the Examiner said.
Voting on the REINS Act was supposed to be taken up last week, but it has been held up because of the standoff between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Republican leadership and a group of conservatives frustrated with his handling of the debt limit negotiations with the Biden administration.
Cammack told the Examiner that the REINS Act would give Congress its Article 1 authority to legislate the proposed rules and regulations that meet the criteria for major changes.
She added that the bill's timing is crucial because the "hyper-partisan" Biden administration has been using rule making so aggressively.
"Today, I think people can all agree, regardless of what political affiliation you have, that there is a new fourth branch of government and it's the regulatory regime," Cammack told the Examiner.
"It's been weaponized by both parties … instead of going through the traditional legislative process we now have nameless, faceless bureaucrats in basements all over Washington, D.C., making law, implementing law, without any accountability or consequences."
REINS Act critics say the legislation would cripple the federal government in taking action by adding arduous guardrails to the regulatory process.
One think tank executive told the Examiner that if the REINS Act would affect greatly how Washington bureaucracy operates.
"REINS would be extraordinarily significant in that if you had major regulations Congress would need to … get up on its hind legs and actually affirm it — that makes a huge difference," Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Examiner.
Crews added that rule making has been excessive under President Joe Biden.
"Biden, I think, has taken that to another level," Crews told the Examiner.
One example is the Labor Department's proposed rule that would allow retirement plan managers to consider environmental, social, and governance factors when making investments.
The rule allows fiduciaries to consider ESG factors when making investment decisions for U.S. retirement accounts. Biden vetoed Congress' override – the House passed it, the Senate did not – and the rule moved forward.