Last Thursday, shortly after returning from recess, the House passed the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2016, a bill designed to enable Trump and the Republican Congress to kick off next year by rolling back a wide swath of regulatory progress from the Obama administration.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) of 1996 allows Congress to overturn any Executive Branch rule within 60 legislative days of it being finalized in the Federal Register. The resolution of disapproval for the rule would only require a simply majority, and Congress could require any substitute rule to secure their authorization. Because Congress has been out of session for so much of 2016 due to the election, this 60-day weekend could go back as far as May, when the Department of Labor’s overtime rules were finalized.
However, overturning rules take time because of parliamentary process. And Congress will already be very busy in the beginning of 2017 with cabinet appointment confirmations. The Midnight Rules Relief Act would allow Republicans to bundle dozens resolutions of disapproval into one bill, thus expediting the deregulatory process.
As David Dayen explains,
If the Issa bill passes, one vote would wipe out the efforts of thousands of executive branch bureaucrats and millions of hours of public input and review. It would effectively shorten the term of office of a president, much like the Senate did when it refused to even schedule a hearing for Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. If you want three-year terms for president and one year of paralysis, write a constitutional amendment. But the proliferation of end-runs to artificially limit the power of a particular branch of government are dangerous.
Because our 18th-century governing structure is ill-suited to a partisan age, you get these aggressive power grabs. Democracies only work when there are clear lines of accountability, when everyone knows that their vote translates into decisions made on their behalf. When you lose that, voting becomes nothing more than an exercise in picking your favorite celebrity.
The bill passed the House 240 to 179, with all Republicans in attendance voting for it and 3 Democrats joining them.
Those three Democrats were Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Collin Peterson (MN-07), and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)—all of whom have a history of opposing progressive legislation and enabling the most reactionary proposals put forth by Republicans.
The House voted down three Democratic amendments to the bill.
John Conyers (MI-13) offered an amendment to exempt from the bill rules that are necessary to prevent an imminent threat to public health, safety, or other emergency.
It failed on a party line vote.
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) offered an amendment to exempt from the bill rules that pertain to critical matters of national security.
Peterson and Sinema joined Republicans in voting it down 238 to 179.
Gerry Connolly (VA-11) offered two amendments, voted on jointly, that would have exempted from the bill rules that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget determines have benefits that exceed their costs and rules that are necessary to address the harmful effects of climate change.
Peterson joined Republicans in voting it down 237 to 180.
Obama has already issued a veto threat, but the new Congress could take the bill anew under President Trump in January.