Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

My use of the DOL family farm regulations to take a pot-shot at the Porchers below, has led to my learning about the REINS bill , thanks to our astute commenters Brian and CJ Wolfe.

Standing for Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny, the REINS act:

“ . . . would require Congress to take an up-or-down, stand-alone vote, and for the President to sign-off on all new major rules before they can be enforced on the American people, job-creating small businesses, or State and local governments.

Major rules are those that have an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. Last year, 100 major rules were finalized by the Executive Branch.”

Sounds good to me, but CJ Wolfe indicates there are potential problems. Here’s inviting him to say more, although I suspect one problem has to do with whether such an law could restrain a President who simply refused to sign off each of these regulations as the law requires and then claimed on presentment clause grounds, that Congress’ vote was not binding.  In shorthand:  separation of powers issues here.

What do you think?

P.S. Porchers, the bill was sponsored by a Republican , one Geoff Davis, a man representing a portion of Kentucky , and it is set to die in a Senate that is Democratic .


Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles