Last Chance for the 115th: Options for Regulatory Reform

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This June here at OpenMarket we’ll be looking at what the 115th Congress, which began January 3, 2017 and runs through January 3, 2019, has accomplished so far and what might still be achieved for limited government and free markets before it’s over. Read more about the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s recommendations for legislative reform here. 

With a possible party change in play this November in one or both chambers of Congress, the time might be now or never to pass substantive regulatory reform. President Trump is amenable to reform legislation, and both chambers of Congress have GOP majorities. A number of bills are already in play, and some have even passed the House.

While Trump’s early executive orders have helped to slow the growth of new regulations, the next president can undo them as easily as Trump enacted them, with the stroke of a pen. Permanent reform requires Congress to act, and the current favorable political winds might be changing direction as we speak.

I recently compiled a short list of active regulatory reform legislation; nothing has changed since then. I reprint the list below, and encourage Congress to act on them while they still can. And if the GOP retains congressional control past November, there is much more they can do then. For now, this may have to do:

  • REINS Act: This bill, which has passed the House four times now, would require Congress to vote on all new regulations costing more than $100 million per year. The goal is to increase elected officials’ oversight over unelected agency officials’ rulemaking. See also my paper on REINS here.
  • Regulatory Accountability Act: This bill, which has passed the House, packages six reform bills in one. Reforms include stricter disclosure requirements for agencies regarding new rules; making judicial review of regulations easier; stricter disclosure for rules affecting small businesses and nonprofits; require benefit-cost analysis for more regulations; monthly agency reports on upcoming regulations and other activities; and require a plain-language 100-word summary for proposed new regulations.
  • Regulatory Improvement Act: This bill would establish an independent commission to comb through select parts of the 178,000-page Code of Federal Regulations. The Commission would send Congress an omnibus package of redundant, obsolete, or harmful rules to eliminate. The RIA’s lead sponsor is a Democrat, which might make Republicans squeamish about giving the other team a victory. But they should pass the bill anyway. Not only would this be a positive political gesture, it’s a needed housekeeping chore that deserves to be expanded upon in future sessions of Congress.
  • GOOD Act: Neither chamber has passed this bill yet. It would alleviate the problem of regulatory “dark matter” by improving access to guidance documents that agencies issue. Agencies sometimes circumvent the legally required notice-and-comment rulemaking process by simply inserting regulations into these guidance documents.

With the Senate staying in session for most of its usual summer recess, it has no excuse for not at least putting these bills to a vote. They will boost the economy in the short and long run, which sits well with voters. And with a willing executive happy to sign them, they are easy political victories.

Read previous posts in the “Last Chance for the 115th” series: