Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
The Bipartisan Policy Center is out with new recommendations for Congress on how to deal with the demise of Chevron deference.
Why it matters: Lawmakers have barely begun to grapple with the legislative implications of last year's Loper Bright decision at the Supreme Court.
- The case tossed out the long-standing precedent in which courts deferred to regulators when the law was ambiguous.
Driving the news: The report recommends increasing funding to committees to hire more staff and changing hearing formats to help lawmakers get more information and clarify congressional intent.
- And it suggests more funding for legislative counsel to help lawmakers write more specific definitions in bills.
- The report is the product of a working group that had been meeting with lawmakers and staff on the Hill (we told you about that late last year).
Between the lines: As the report notes, House committee staffing numbers have "fallen steeply since 1990."
- Since then, leadership from both parties has generally taken more control over the legislative process.
- The report suggests a new "guaranteed regular order" process, in which committees would be able to get bipartisan bills to the floor if they conduct a thorough deliberative process.
Our thought bubble: One reason Congress is vague, particularly in updating regulatory statute, is that compromise sometimes demands that lawmakers punt to agencies.
- But we're still in the early days of lawmakers' responses to a changing judiciary.
- "We recognize these ideas may not rise to the top of the congressional priority list and do not necessarily make for catchy campaign rhetoric," the report says.
- "Yet the history of Congress and its back and forth with executive branch agencies and courts … give us confidence that another round of change will come."
