Posted on 06/28/2003 11:22:07 AM PDT by webber
ISSUE:Tired of faceless & heartless bureaucrats enacting "regulations" that were never approved by Congress? So is at least one Congressman.
Calling it the "Congressional Responsibility Act," Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) is promoting his legislation (H.R. 110) to require that all prospective federal regulations be subject to congressional approval before they become effective.
The bill forces congressional compliance with Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which grants sole legislative power to Congress, by requiring all regulations to return to Congress for approval before they become effective.
This bill would accomplish several things. First, it would restore a measure of Democracy to this democratic Republic in which we live. The system of government established by our forefathers requires that people be bound only by those laws enacted by lawmakers they elect.
Since the New Deal, however, Congress and the White House have routinely passed statutes that transfer the power to make law to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats.
Second, it corrects a serious violation of the Constitution: Article I, Section 1 states that "ALL legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress" (emphasis added). The Section, moreover, makes clear that the legislative power includes the power to regulate.
Finally, it stops bad regulations: Delegation encourages Congress to enact statutes that promise to be everything to all people. Elected officials can claim credit for the promises while blaming bureaucrats for bad regulation. No more, if this bill passes.
ACTION ITEM: This bill would end the practice whereby Congress delegates its responsibility for making laws to unelected, unaccountable officials of the executive branch and requires that regulations proposed by agencies of the executive branch be affirmatively enacted by Congress before they become effective. If we can get it passed, it would result in a more democratic and accountable Congress and protect the public from regulations for which elected, accountable officials are unwilling to take responsibility.
Let's get our Representatives off their duffs and supporting this bill. Go to our site below to send your Congressman a FREE message, asking him or her to support H.R. 110, the "Congressional Responsibility Act":
NOTE: Be sure to forward this e-mail to everyone you know that wants to help some measure over constitutional Congressional responsibility over the rules issued by faceless bureaucrats.
Thank you!
ConservativeAlerts.Com
Second, it corrects a serious violation of the Constitution: Article I, Section 1 states that "ALL legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress" (emphasis added). The Section, moreover, makes clear that the legislative power includes the power to regulate.
Finally, it stops bad regulations: Delegation encourages Congress to enact statutes that promise to be everything to all people. Elected officials can claim credit for the promises while blaming bureaucrats for bad regulation. No more, if this bill passes.
I would add a fourth specific problem that this practice causes: It aids large corporations at the expense of smaller businesses. The giganticorps usually are the ones effectively making the regulations through their hired proxies in government, and if they're not making them, they at least have advanced insider information on how they're being made, so they can plan their operations accordingly. In either case, they have teams of laywers not available to their much smaller counterparts, which enable them to comply with these regulations without a hitch, whereas the family-run outfits are either getting themselves into legal trouble or severly hampering their operations by trying to avoid the risk of committing a violation.
Its doom is in its name.
Exactamundo!! Hence, regulatory volume is what will have to give way, not congressional accountability. Besides, it's what the Constitution requires.
It's a great idea. Therefore, like the Sunset Act, which would have required Congress to look over older laws (like the Endangered Species Act) and AXE them if they are no longer required, it will not pass. Too many union jobs depend on non-elected entities making regulations which require billions of $$$ and more union-backed, red tape jockies to "enforce". Look at artificial mess in Klamath. Look at EPA regulations which ave given us the massive wildfires of the past few years. Bureaucrats love a bureaucracy.
For what it's worth, I'd like to see it pass, but won't hold my breath.
No, it won't.
Then it's ours.
Their constituents be damned, heh?
The time is availble to perform the functions for which they elected him is inadequate to cover ministerial minutia.
Backwards. Regulatory functions are ministerial.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.