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Congressional Review Act AI simulator
(@Congressional Review Act_simulator)
Hub AI
Congressional Review Act AI simulator
(@Congressional Review Act_simulator)
Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress as subtitle E of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996. The law empowers Congress to review, by means of an expedited legislative process, new federal regulations issued by government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule a regulation. Once a rule is thus repealed, the CRA also prohibits the reissuing of the rule in substantially the same form or the issuing of a new rule that is substantially the same "unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule." Congress has a window of time lasting 60 session days to disapprove of any given rule by simple-majority vote; otherwise, the rule will go into effect at the end of that period.
Before 2017, Congress successfully invoked the CRA only once to overturn a rule (in 2001). In January 2017, with a new Republican president, Donald Trump, the Republican-controlled 115th Congress began passing a series of disapproval resolutions to overturn a variety of rules issued under the Obama administration. Ultimately, 14 such resolutions repealing Obama administration rules were passed and signed into law; a fifteenth resolution was passed by the House but failed in the Senate. Because of the shortness of legislative sessions during the 114th Congress, the 115th Congress was able to target rules issued by the Obama administration as far back as June 2016.
Use of the Congressional Review Act has increased because the Act provides special, fast-track parliamentary procedures that make it easier for Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval, particularly in the Senate, where a qualifying joint resolution cannot be filibustered.
The Act requires that before a rule can take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a report (containing the rule, a concise general statement of the rule, and the rule’s proposed effective date) to each House of Congress and the Comptroller General. Each House then sends copies of the report to the Chairs and Ranking Members of committees with jurisdiction and prints notices of the report in the Congressional Record as executive communications.
The Act makes special procedures available for 60 days. In interpreting the starting date for that period, the House of Representatives focuses on the date that it received the report, while the Senate focuses on the date that the notice is published in the Congressional Record and the report is referred to committee. The later of either of those dates or the date on which the rule is published in the Federal Register (if the agency published rule there) then becomes the starting date for a period of 60 session days thereafter during which the Act's special parliamentary procedures apply. If the agency fails to publish the rule in the Federal Register and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) determines that it is nonetheless a rule (as described below), then the starting date is the date on which a Senator publishes the GAO decision in the Congressional Record.
To qualify for expedited consideration in the Senate, a joint resolution of disapproval may not be introduced before the starting date. And a joint resolution of disapproval introduced after the 60 day period ends does not qualify for the Act's special procedures. The 60 day period counts calendar days, "excluding days either House of Congress is adjourned for more than 3 days during a session of Congress."
The joint resolution of disapproval must use only the words, “That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the ____ relating to ____, and such rule shall have no force or effect,” where the first blank is filled in with the agency and the second blank is filled with the title of the rule and either the Federal Register citation (if the agency published it there) or the Congressional Record citation (if GAO determined it to be a rule).
In the Senate, beginning 21 calendar days after the starting date, Senators can discharge the resolution with a petition signed by 30 Senators (if the committee to which a joint resolution was referred has not already reported the resolution or an identical resolution). The joint resolution is then placed on the calendar. Note that 21 or more days after the starting date, a Senator can submit the joint resolution and discharge it immediately, even before the committee has any opportunity to act.
Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress as subtitle E of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996. The law empowers Congress to review, by means of an expedited legislative process, new federal regulations issued by government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule a regulation. Once a rule is thus repealed, the CRA also prohibits the reissuing of the rule in substantially the same form or the issuing of a new rule that is substantially the same "unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule." Congress has a window of time lasting 60 session days to disapprove of any given rule by simple-majority vote; otherwise, the rule will go into effect at the end of that period.
Before 2017, Congress successfully invoked the CRA only once to overturn a rule (in 2001). In January 2017, with a new Republican president, Donald Trump, the Republican-controlled 115th Congress began passing a series of disapproval resolutions to overturn a variety of rules issued under the Obama administration. Ultimately, 14 such resolutions repealing Obama administration rules were passed and signed into law; a fifteenth resolution was passed by the House but failed in the Senate. Because of the shortness of legislative sessions during the 114th Congress, the 115th Congress was able to target rules issued by the Obama administration as far back as June 2016.
Use of the Congressional Review Act has increased because the Act provides special, fast-track parliamentary procedures that make it easier for Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval, particularly in the Senate, where a qualifying joint resolution cannot be filibustered.
The Act requires that before a rule can take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a report (containing the rule, a concise general statement of the rule, and the rule’s proposed effective date) to each House of Congress and the Comptroller General. Each House then sends copies of the report to the Chairs and Ranking Members of committees with jurisdiction and prints notices of the report in the Congressional Record as executive communications.
The Act makes special procedures available for 60 days. In interpreting the starting date for that period, the House of Representatives focuses on the date that it received the report, while the Senate focuses on the date that the notice is published in the Congressional Record and the report is referred to committee. The later of either of those dates or the date on which the rule is published in the Federal Register (if the agency published rule there) then becomes the starting date for a period of 60 session days thereafter during which the Act's special parliamentary procedures apply. If the agency fails to publish the rule in the Federal Register and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) determines that it is nonetheless a rule (as described below), then the starting date is the date on which a Senator publishes the GAO decision in the Congressional Record.
To qualify for expedited consideration in the Senate, a joint resolution of disapproval may not be introduced before the starting date. And a joint resolution of disapproval introduced after the 60 day period ends does not qualify for the Act's special procedures. The 60 day period counts calendar days, "excluding days either House of Congress is adjourned for more than 3 days during a session of Congress."
The joint resolution of disapproval must use only the words, “That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the ____ relating to ____, and such rule shall have no force or effect,” where the first blank is filled in with the agency and the second blank is filled with the title of the rule and either the Federal Register citation (if the agency published it there) or the Congressional Record citation (if GAO determined it to be a rule).
In the Senate, beginning 21 calendar days after the starting date, Senators can discharge the resolution with a petition signed by 30 Senators (if the committee to which a joint resolution was referred has not already reported the resolution or an identical resolution). The joint resolution is then placed on the calendar. Note that 21 or more days after the starting date, a Senator can submit the joint resolution and discharge it immediately, even before the committee has any opportunity to act.