U.S. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman (R-WY), reintroduced the Regulatory Cooling Off Act, which amends the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to slow the regulatory onslaught perpetrated against the American people by federal bureaucrats.
“By slowing down the rulemaking timeline, increasing transparency, and streamlining judicial relief, this bill aims to empower the American people rather than unelected officials,” Hageman says through a media release.
“Since its passage in 1946, Congress has failed to substantially amend the APA, while also giving administrative agencies more power and resources,” Congresswoman Hageman says. “This dynamic has created the administrative state we see today, one which can impose trillions in new regulatory costs without any congressional oversight. While there have been some recent victories, such as the overturning of Chevron deference, the American people will only see real relief if Congress acts and reclaims its authority as the people’s representatives. The Regulatory Cooling Off Act takes this first step by slowing the administrative state and making it more accountable to the public, which opens our governing system for Congress to once again claim the mantle as the main drivers of national policy.”
Background:
The APA establishes how the agencies make rules, adjudicate administrative litigation, and provide for judicial review. Because of quick timelines and unspecified constraints, the executive branch can quickly develop and enforce rules, even if it lacks authorization from Congress. President Biden imposed over $1.7 trillion in new federal regulatory costs, increasing the annual cost to comply with federal regulation to at least $2.117 trillion, which comes out to $15,788 annually per household.
The Regulatory Cooling Off Act slows the regulatory process itself by requiring the agencies to wait six months before enforcing any new regulations it develops. It extends timelines for public participation, forces the agencies to transparently provide all information the public needs to meaningfully engage with their government, and provides Americans challenging federal regulation with forum relief from activist courts that have historically backed the administrative state.
