Mace Joins GOP Colleagues to Introduce Bill Reining in Unelected Bureaucrats
March 10, 2021
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Mace (SC-01) on Wednesday joined nearly half of the Republican conference to introduce legislation to increase accountability and transparency in the federal regulatory process.
“For decades, unelected bureaucrats in Washington have imposed heavy-handed regulations on South Carolinians," Mace said. "What’s worse, these bureaucrats operate as player, coach, and referee, interpreting and enforcing the rules they write for the game they make the rest of us play.
“Congress has given up its constitutional responsibility to write laws, and it’s time we took it back and did the job our Founders intended us to do.”
Background:
The bill, called the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, will reassert Congress' legislative authority and prevent excessive overreach by the executive branch in the federal rulemaking process. It would require every new "major rule" proposed by federal agencies to be approved by both the House and Senate before going into effect. The bill would also preserve Congress' authority to disapprove of a "nonmajor rule" through a joint resolution.
The REINS Act would define a "major rule" as any federal rule or regulation that may result in: an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual industries, government industries, government agencies, or geographic regions; or significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or the ability of U.S.-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises.
At the time of its introduction, the REINS Act of 2021 included over half of the Republican Conference as original cosponsors. Senator Rand Paul introduced the identical Senate version of this bill as S. 68 on January 27.
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