Congressional Review Act

Data compiled by Sarah Hay with the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University, covering the 115th Congress (2017-2018) through the 118th Congress (2023-2024), shows that 368 disapproval resolutions were introduced over that eight-year period, but only 31 passed Congress and only 19 became law. The remaining 12 were vetoed by the president and not overridden. In the most recent 118th Congress (2023-24), 11 disapproval resolutions cleared both houses of Congress, but all were vetoed by Biden. The success rate corresponds to periods when both houses of Congress and the president belong to the same party.

 

At the beginning of the current 119th Congress, the new Republican-controlled House, anticipating a spate of proposed last-minute Biden administration regulations, passed a measure titled, The Midnight Rules Relief Act. The bill provided that either house could bundle multiple proposed regulations into a single disapproval resolution to expedite their consideration and floor votes. While the House passed the measure, 212-208 on Feb. 12, it has been reposing in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ever since.

 

In the meantime, the House passed two disapproval resolutions of Biden administration regulations last week, dealing with water heater standards and waste emission charges. Three other disapproval resolutions are scheduled for House consideration this week. They cover proposed Biden administration regulations on marine archaeological resources, rubber tire manufacturing emissions and appliance standards.

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The Congressional Review Act is a limited tool for curbing excessive regulations. However, a Government Accountability Office opinion in 2017, backed by the Senate parliamentarian, concludes that even decades-old-regulations that were never published in the Federal Register also qualify for CRA treatment as proposed regulations subject to disapproval resolutions. Moreover, Congress can always enact bills that repeal longstanding regulations.