GOP tries again to require congressional approval of 'major' regulations

Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and more than 100 other House Republicans want another shot at giving Congress a say over major Executive Branch regulations that have a $100 million impact on the economy.

These members proposed a new version of the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act on Wednesday. The REINS Act was one of the GOP leadership's high-priority bills in the last Congress, and it passed in a December 2011 vote that saw every Republican support it along with four Democrats.

The REINS Act is in large part a response to the 2010 healthcare law, which has spawned numerous regulations that Republicans say has allowed the Obama administration to fine-tune the law based on its own preferences, without any input from Congress. The Dodd-Frank financial reform law is another that Republicans say needs to be under the more direct control of Congress.

"Three years later, Americans are still unsure about exactly how laws like ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank will work," Young said Wednesday. "That's because so many of the details of those laws were left up to the discretion of federal regulators.

"At a time when our economy is struggling, this uncertainty about future regulatory costs is a large contributor to our sluggish recovery."

Under the bill, H.R. 367, any rule with an economic impact of more than $100 million would be designated a major rule, and would have to be approved by Congress.

But just as it was in the last Congress, the obstacle the bill faces in the 113th is the Senate. After the House approved the REINS Act in late 2011, the Senate never considered it on the floor, and never held a hearing on it.

Among the cosponsors of Young's bill are Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), and Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas). In the last Congress, the bill was offered by former Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.), who retired last July.

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