House and Senate Republicans are preparing the little-used Congressional Review Act to repeal perhaps dozens of regulations implemented in the waning days of the Biden administration.
The act allows the repeal of only specific regulations, particularly those finalized since early August.
Dozens of rules will be eligible for repeal. Republican lawmakers are salivating at their chance to ax some of them as soon as they take control of the House, Senate and White House next month.
“We’ll do every possible regulation we can get to. We’ll use it on everything possible that’s a bad regulation,” said Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican. “It’s a wonderful tool for undoing the bureaucratic excess of the Biden administration.”
Republicans will likely target no more than two dozen regulations because it takes time to get them to the president’s desk.
Proposals to repeal regulations rarely succeed because they must pass both chambers by a simple majority and get the president’s signature. The CRA kicks into high gear only when both chambers of Congress and the White House are under one-party control.
With slim majorities in both chambers and Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office, Republicans have the green light to use the CRA again to eliminate regulations imposed by a Democratic administration.
Mr. Trump pledged that deregulation would be a top priority in his second term. The CRA is one tool Republicans can use to reverse some of the thousands of rules and regulations President Biden has implemented.
Critics say Republicans will use the CRA to reverse environmental and safety protections, but Republican leaders in the House and Senate haven’t announced the regulations they will target.
Some of the latest environmental rules will likely be priorities.
In October, the Biden administration finalized a mandate requiring the removal of all lead drinking water pipes by 2027. States are scrambling to find money to complete the massive project on time. Republicans may also move to repeal a slew of regulations for mobile home manufacturing that the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued in September.
Some unfinished regulations, including a pending rule to protect workers from extreme heat and a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, are also likely to be axed.
The heat protection rule would require employers to provide workers with water and a cool place to rest when the outdoor temperature reaches 80 degrees. At 90 degrees, employees would get mandatory 15-minute breaks after two hours of work.
Many Republicans say implementing the rule would be difficult and costly for employers.
Outside groups have begun lobbying Republicans to repeal eligible Biden regulations.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is calling for repealing a Biden administration rule allowing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to “arbitrarily weigh in” on carbon credit trading across its exchanges. The institute says the rule adds “an unnecessary set of regulatory constraints” on carbon trading, a struggling market.
When Republicans controlled the House and the Senate in Mr. Trump’s first term, they repealed a record-breaking 16 Obama-era regulations, including a gun background check requirement for those receiving federal disability payments and a stream protection rule that opponents said threatened mining jobs.
Under Mr. Biden, Democrats used the CRA to repeal three Trump-era regulations. Most notable was his methane emissions rule, which rolled back President Obama’s more stringent oil and gas emission requirements.
When passed and signed into law, CRA legislation blocks agencies from reissuing the same or similar regulations.
Under the threat of a second Trump term, the Biden administration raced to finalize many regulations before the August deadline so they would be ineligible for repeal by the next Congress.
Republicans said Mr. Biden may issue regulations forgiving student loans or restricting oil and gas production before he leaves office.
Any midnight rules “will be ripe for us to target,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican.
• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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