Marino, Goodlatte, Issa applaud committee approval of regulatory relief bills

The House Judiciary Committee recently approved legislation that U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) introduced to minimize the consequences of “high impact” administrative rules.

The Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act, H.R. 3438, would place an automatic administrative stay on “high impact” rules that cost more than $1 billion annually, pending judicial review, if a legal challenge were to be filed within 60 days.

Marino, the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, said that American workers, taxpayers and families have had to bear the burden of “regulatory hubris” from Washington.

“As executive agencies grow bolder, so too does the scope and effect of their actions,” Marino said. “Too often, the financial burden of these reckless regulations falls on the backs of hard-working Americans. The compliance costs alone are felt nationwide and touch every corner of our economy.”

The measure would be an important step in reining in “far-reaching” regulations and would ensure that government rule makers are held accountable, Marino added.

U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a cosponsor of the REVIEW Act, said that billions of dollars are wasted in unnecessary compliance costs when new high-impact regulations are introduced and later overturned by the courts.

“This is because, without a stay imposed by the agency or the court, the costs to cover regulations still must be paid for by hardworking Americans even while the lawfulness of new regulations is being challenged in court,” Goodlatte said.

The committee also approved the Midnight Rules Relief Act, H.R. 5982, introduced by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet.

The bill would amend the Congressional Review Act to enable Congress to act more quickly to overturn multiple “midnight rules” that may be imposed by outgoing presidential administrations.

In a joint statement, Issa, Goodlatte and Marino said that the president expects Americans to pay billions of dollars for last-minute rules before his time in office runs out.

“Putting costly, partisan regulations in the fast lane for approval without transparency and proper time for public scrutiny does a disservice to the American people,” the lawmakers said. “Congress must ensure that this president, and future presidents, are held accountable and that the people’s representatives in Congress have the opportunity to overturn these last-minute actions before they unnecessarily burden American workers and small businesses.”