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Administrative State
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The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a federal law used by Congress and the president as a check on the rulemaking activities of federal agencies. The law created a review period during which Congress, by passing a joint resolution of disapproval later signed by the president, can overturn a new federal agency rule and block the issuing agency from creating a similar rule in the future.

Background

The Congressional Review Act was passed in 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton (D). The law passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act section of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996.[1][2] Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), at the time a U.S. representative and speaker of the House, oversaw the law's passage through his chamber of Congress. Before 2017 the only successful use of the CRA was in 2001, when the recently sworn-in Congress and President George W. Bush (R) reversed an ergonomic standards rule issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the final months of the previous administration. During his presidency, Barack Obama (D) vetoed five CRA resolutions addressing environmental, labor, and financial policy.[3][4]

Review of major rules

See also: Major rule

The CRA requires an additional review process for regulations that are considered major rules under the terms of the act.[5] According to the GAO, a major rule is defined by the CRA as:

“ [A rule] that has resulted in or is likely to result in (1) an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; (2) a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual industries, federal, state, or local government agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, or innovation, or on the ability of United States-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and export markets.[6][7] ”
—See 5 U.S.C. § 804(2)

Rules promulgated under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are exempt from this definition.[5]

Major rules are subject to two additional requirements under the CRA. First, the comptroller general of the United States (the director of the Government Accountability Office) is required to assess whether or not the agency issuing a major rule complied with rulemaking procedures and to report its findings to Congress within 15 days of the rule's submission or its publication in the Federal Register.[5] According to the GAO, this review "does not analyze or comment on the substance or quality of rulemaking."[6]

Second, the CRA provides that a major rule "shall take effect on the latest of:"[5]

“
  • 60 days after the date that the rule is published in the Federal Register or received by Congress, whichever is later;
  • if Congress passes a joint resolution of disapproval and the President vetoes it, the date on which either house of Congress votes and fails to override the veto or 30 session days after the date Congress received the veto, whichever is earlier; or
  • the date the rule would have otherwise taken effect, if not for this provision of the CRA.[5][7]
 ”
—See 5 U.S.C. § 801(a)(3)

According to the Congressional Research Service, this provision is intended to delay the date on which a major rule would take effect and provide Congress with a longer period of time to consider overturning the rule.[5]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Congress, "H.R.3136 - Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996," accessed April 23, 2019
  2. ↑ Congressional Research Service, "In Focus: The Congressional Review Act (CRA)," accessed April 22, 2019
  3. ↑ Smithsonian Magazine, "What Is the Congressional Review Act?" February 10, 2017
  4. ↑ Quartz, "The obscure law Donald Trump will use to unwind Obama's regulations," December 1, 2016
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Congressional Research Service, "The Congressional Review Act: Frequently Asked Questions," November 17, 2016
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Congressional Review Act FAQs," accessed July 15, 2017
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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The Administrative State
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Administrative Procedure Act • Antiquities Act • Civil Service Reform Act • Clayton Antitrust Act • Communications Act of 1934 • Congressional Review Act • Electronic Freedom of Information Act • Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 • Federal Housekeeping Statute • Federal Reserve Act • Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 • Freedom of Information Act • Government in the Sunshine Act • Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 • Information Quality Act • Interstate Commerce Act • National Labor Relations Act • Paperwork Reduction Act • Pendleton Act • Privacy Act of 1974 • Regulatory Flexibility Act • REINS Act • REINS Act (Wisconsin) • Securities Act of 1933 • Securities Exchange Act of 1934 • Sherman Antitrust Act • Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act • Truth in Regulating Act • Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
Cases
Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner • A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States • Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp • Auer v. Robbins • Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Standard Oil Company of California • Field v. Clark • Food and Drug Administration v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation • Humphrey's Executor v. United States • Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) v. Chadha • J.W. Hampton Jr. & Company v. United States • Lucia v. SEC • Marshall v. Barlow's • Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency • Mistretta v. United States • National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius • National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company • National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. • Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan • Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation • Skidmore v. Swift & Co. • United States v. Lopez • United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. • Universal Camera Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board • Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Wayman v. Southard • Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service • Whitman v. American Trucking Associations • Wickard v. Filburn • Wiener v. United States
Terms
Adjudication (administrative state) • Administrative judge • Administrative law • Administrative law judge • Administrative state • Arbitrary-or-capricious test • Auer deference • Barrier to entry • Bootleggers and Baptists • Chevron deference (doctrine) • Civil servant • Civil service • Code of Federal Regulations • Codify (administrative state) • Comment period • Compliance costs • Congressional Record • Coordination (administrative state) • Deference (administrative state) • Direct and indirect costs (administrative state) • Enabling statute • Ex parte communication (administrative state) • Executive agency • Federal law • Federal Register • Federalism • Final rule • Formal rulemaking • Formalism (law) • Functionalism (law) • Guidance (administrative state) • Hybrid rulemaking • Incorporation by reference • Independent federal agency • Informal rulemaking • Joint resolution of disapproval (administrative state) • Major rule • Negotiated rulemaking • Nondelegation doctrine • OIRA prompt letter • Organic statute • Pragmatism (law) • Precautionary principle • Promulgate • Proposed rule • Publication rulemaking • Regulatory budget • Regulatory capture • Regulatory dark matter • Regulatory impact analysis • Regulatory policy officer • Regulatory reform officer • Regulatory review • Rent seeking • Retrospective regulatory review • Risk assessment (administrative state) • Rulemaking • Separation of powers • Significant regulatory action • Skidmore deference • Statutory authority • Substantive law and procedural law • Sue and settle • Sunset provision • Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions • United States Code • United States Statutes at Large
Bibliography
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