Published: January 2025

Broad opposition to bill that would allow undoing of dozens of regulations finalized near end of Biden term

In a letter to Congressional leaders, a broad range of advocacy groups expressed their opposition to the H.R. 115, the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2023, which would allow a new, incoming administration to use the Congressional Review Act to simultaneously undo numerous recently finalized regulations.

A coalition of more than 50 advocacy organizations representing a broad range of causes and consumers wrote to the House of Representatives to strongly urge lawmakers to oppose H.R. 115, the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2023. The legislation would amend the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to allow simultaneous disapproval of dozens of regulations finalized near the end of presidential terms using a single joint resolution. The effect of this bill would be to greatly expand the CRA’s anti-regulatory force by amplifying the harmful impact of the CRA’s “salt the earth” provision, which bars agencies from issuing new rules that are substantially the same as the rules that are repealed. It would also make it easier for narrow majorities of lawmakers to repeal recently completed safeguards without the due consideration and deliberation that Congress should employ before taking such drastic steps. Proponents of the bill wrongly assert that regulations which are proposed or finalized during the so-called “midnight” rulemaking period are rushed and inadequately vetted. In fact, the very opposite is true—many of these regulations that will benefit the American public had been in the regulatory process for years. Conversely, CRA resolutions—including those used to block rules that have completed the long journey through the rulemaking process—can sprint through Congress in just a few weeks, in a process that is rushed, nontransparent and discourages informed decision-making. (Update: The bill is expected to be reintroduced early in this new Congress.)

Lead Organization

Coalition for Sensible Safeguards

More Information

Read the letter here.

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