Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Republicans face tough odds in their opening salvo to advance a bill that would allow Congress to approve all major agency rules.
Why it matters: Supporters of the REINS Act — a long-sought goal of conservatives — are hoping to ride DOGE-fueled momentum for taking an axe to the federal bureaucracy.
- It would require Congress to approve "major" regulations — defined as having over $100 million in economic effects — before they can take effect.
Driving the news: Sen. Mike Lee's amendment to establish a reserve fund for the REINS Act was approved in a 53–47 party-line vote in the early Friday vote-a-rama.
- The amendment will "demonstrate to the American people that we're serious about reducing excessive regulatory burdens," Lee said on the floor.
- Lead House sponsor Kat Cammack said last week the REINS Act is "well on its way to becoming law" after being included in the House budget resolution heading to the floor.
Reality check: Not so fast, experts on reconciliation and rulemaking say.
- The act "would be completely outside the purpose of reconciliation," said Bill Hoagland, a longtime Senate GOP aide now at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
- Lee's amendment "merely allows the chairman of the Budget Committee to adjust committee allocations should separate legislation be enacted," he said.
- Wake Forest law professor Sidney Shapiro said the act is a "legislative limit on what agencies can do substantively — and that's so far afield from any reasonable and legitimate notion of reconciliation."
Flashback: The bill passed the House the last time the GOP controlled Congress and the White House, but failed to move in the Senate.
The other side: Sen. Gary Peters called the amendment an "arguably unconstitutional legislative scheme to get rid of regulations."
- If Congress wants to repeal a law, we should repeal the law — not create some new arcane process to sabotage implementation," Peters said on the floor.
- "One chamber of Congress could effectively nullify the law previously passed by the whole of Congress simply by not approving a rule of implementation," he said.
What's next: The action now shifts to the authorizing committees, which will draft measures complying with budget resolution instructions.
- Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough will decide its fate.
- "Any self-respecting parliamentarian would have to say no," Shapiro said. "Unless they can politicize that office hopelessly, I assume that's what the parliamentarian will say."
