Last June, Representative Kat Cammack's (R-FL) REINS Act, which tightened the federal government's ability to impose regulations, passed the House. Now, Florida Congresswoman and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) have introduced amendments designed to restrain the regulatory agencies' powers further and restore power to Congress and the American people.
To reiterate, the primary objective of Rep. Cammack's REINS Act was to require federal agencies to seek Congressional approval and Presidential signage before implementing "major" rulings such as cost or price increases for consumers, "significant" adverse effects on American industry, or an economic impact totaling $100 million or more.
The new amendments introduced by Rep. Cammack and Sen. Paul include the right to sue a federal agency for implementing or enforcing a rule without Congressional approval. Individuals can defend themselves by saying that "the average person would not have known their actions violated federal law if the statute did not clearly state it."
An additional provision introduced incentivizes deregulation by allowing for the withdrawal of costly or burdensome rules without Congressional approval.
"Nameless, faceless, unelected bureaucrats in Washington have had too much power over the American people for far too long. The federal bureaucracy's rapid growth over the last several decades has resulted in serious damage to the livelihoods of millions of Americans with reckless rulemaking not approved by the body granted Article I authority," said Cammack in her press release.
Moreover, she called the REINS Act "a critical step toward 'reining' in this unchecked power and restoring the lawmaking authority to Congress instead of the executive branch," referencing the June decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned the Chevron doctrine.
"With SCOTUS' Loper Bright decision earlier this year, we've made solid progress in dismantling Chevron, and I'm encouraged for the future of REINS and what it will mean in stopping executive overreach," Cammack continued.
The whims of an unaccountable administrative state should never rule our lives. For too long, an ever-growing federal bureaucracy has piled regulations and red tape on the backs of the American people without any approval by Americans' elected representatives. The recent Supreme Court decision to dismantle Chevron's deference stripped away some of the power it wrongly gave to unelected bureaucrats years ago, but there's still work to do. By making Congress more accountable for the most costly and intrusive federal rules, our REINS Act would give Kentuckians and all Americans a greater voice in determining whether these major rules are truly in America's best interests," Sen. Paul added.
