Republicans plot rule-busting plans for next year

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Tuesday that Republicans are plotting to use the Congressional Review Act to kill Biden administration rules.

The Kentucky Republican, who’s stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, said the incoming Senate majority was preparing to use the CRA “to rein in Washington bureaucrats’ expensive interpretation of the powers over working Americans.”

“Under the Biden administration, Democrats have worked relentlessly to resurrect the Obama administration’s regulatory regime,” he said, “from student loan socialism to job-killing energy policies to blatant infringements on property rights.”

The CRA allows Congress to undo rules issued within a certain amount of time. Only simple majority votes are required in the House and Senate, and the president’s signature. A number of recently issued rules or upcoming Biden administration actions are vulnerable.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who’s helping lead a government efficiency task force for President-elect Donald Trump, offered a “friendly reminder” to Congress on the CRA on social media.

“The Congressional Review Act allows the House & Senate to ‘fast track’ a joint resolution rejecting federal regulations within 60 session-days of a regulation being finalized,” he wrote. “This process has been successfully used >20 times, including 16 times at the start of Pres. Trump’s first term to rescind Obama-era regulations.”

In 2017, with a new governing “trifecta,” Republicans undid more than a dozen Obama regulations, including a coal mining pollution rule.

On social media, Ramaswamy added: “We can’t just complain anymore. Now that we’re back in power, it’s time to act.”