Neutering the administrative state

American Thinker ^ | March 3, 2017 | Peter Skurkiss

[Sparticus]

President Trump, with a Republican-controlled Congress behind him, has the means to roll back a surprising amount of the red tape and regulations that Washington bureaucrats have smothered the nation with in the past ten years. I'm referring to the use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
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But the CRA goes even farther. The law states, "Before a rule can take effect," the federal agency in question must submit a congressional report on it. The clear implication here is that the Trump administration can simply declare any rule not reported to Congress null and void. The WSJ suggests a prudent way to approach this opportunity. It is as follows:

The White House would be wise to start by simply directing federal agencies to catalog which rules have reports – and then devise a strategy with Congress. Some rules might deserve to stay on the books. Some bad rules might get reported to Congress for repeal under CRA. Others could be declared null and void – which saves the trouble of formally revising them. This last approach might appeal to Congressional Republicans who are fretting that CRA crush is diverting them from healthcare and tax reform.

[Sparticus]

This is significant because the Obama administration failed to report to Congress much of what it did over the past 8 years as required under the Congressional Review Act, and likely gives the Trump administration a way to side step the Administrative Procedure Act. Contrary to what most would assume, Trump cannot just undo all of Obama's executive orders with the stroke of a pen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulemaking#The_rulemaking_process. Normally, there are a lot of hoops to jump through before Trump can undo many of Obama's orders, but the CRA will allow things to happen much more quickly, it seems.

Also, I'm curious to know if people who have been penalized under a regulation that was illegally promulgated (by being unreported to Congress and subsequently nullified by Trump) will have standing to attack those penalties in court.

[Wonder Warthog]

The CRA ought to be changed such that the existing report has to be in place AND an automatic “sunset clause” incorporated such that any rule will cease effect after five years unless specifically re-authorized by Congress.

[T Ruth]

Contrary to what most would assume, Trump cannot just undo all of Obama's executive orders with the stroke of a pen.

I think Trump can indeed undo all of Obama's Executive Orders with the stroke of a pen. What he cannot do with the stroke of a pen is undo the regulations put in place by the various administrative agencies.

[arthurus]

Having Republicans in Congress behind him is something to be wary about and a reason to take security measures.