Oh please, let them be right and then...let them do it! That could save so much time.

It feels like a different world than we lived in November 3!

Can't be filibustered in the Senate?

Wow.

Wouldn't it be delicious irony if it was a Republican Congress that passed that one?

I sure hope this works!!

I'm shocked! It's so hard to believe that the super efficient and competent Bush administration screwed something up.

I guess I don't understand why these last-minute regs would be so hard to undo. If the executive branch can implement them, why can't the next executive simply undo them?

That just made my day. In fact, it makes my whole week! :-)

KC: If the executive branch can implement them, why can't the next executive simply undo them?

They can change legal interepretations and executive orders immediately. For regulations that have been through the full regulation-change process: publication, hearings, reports, more hearings and reports, they have to go through that whole process again.

KC (that's near my home town of Lawrence, Kansas):

I think I've had the thought that you are getting at. It seems to me (non-expert on legislation that I am) that a new regulation could always be formulated that would trump the previous admin's regulation.

I guess there must be a hitch to that, or it wouldn't be such an issue.

I was surprised to see only 3% of Clinton's were undone. At the time, it seemed like practically everything good that Clinton did.

KC,

Basically, without the 1996 congressional act, congress has 60 days to review and respond to any new regulations, else they become law. Which certainly would not happen in a lame duck session.

Its so W to not be able to do evil right!

Maybe there is some arcane law that allows us to get him to leave early. I've got alot of Bon Voyage mojo leftover from 11/4. Planning the See Ya! W Party! 1/19/2009. Mission Accomplished! [rejoins the limbo line]

For anybody who wants to get down into the weeds on the Congressional Review Act & what it does, take a look at the definitive CRS report on the topic, last updated in May:

http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL30116_20080508.pdf

regulations take forever to implement.

take the EPA regulatory system. in order to formulate a new regulation, the following steps have to take place:

a workgroup must be convened to identify the actual technical question that needs to be addressed (eg: what is the limit of lead in ppm in drinking water) this workgroup identifies outside and internal experts, from academia, industry, government and the affected communities that should be consulted on drafting regulations. this can easily take months.

that workgroup consults the experts, conducts literature reviews and reviews state, federal and local laws that might be affected by the proposed regulation.

then, and only then, is a final draft regulation proposed by the workgroup for consideration by the Science Advisory Board, the Small Entity Review Board and a few other internal committees. The workgroup takes these comments into account and conducts or commissions a full Cost/Benefit Analysis for all stakeholders. if relevant, this is reviewed by the Small Business Advocacy Panel, and the Office of Environmental Justice. Once all this is done, the Regulatory Policy Officer (in this case the Deputy Director of EPA, although all agencies have their own RPO who can be literally anyone in the agency) will publish the proposed regulation, the CBA and internal comments in the Federal Register for public comments.

The public has between 60-90 days to comment on the regulation as well as the paperwork reduction notice.

after this window, the workgroup reconvenes to analyze the public comments and integrate them into the proposed regulation (and if you think this never happens, I personally have suggested changes to two regulations, all under the Bush Administration that have been adopted in part, and I am neither a lawyer nor a scientist.

the final regulation is then drafted, along with a mitigation plan to help entities affected by the change implement the new regulation. If the EPA administrator agrees, she/he signs off on it and it is published in the Federal Register with the force of law as of the date it takes effect. Congress has 60 days to review the regulation and overturn it or send it back to the agency to start the whole process over.

All that takes, if you are lucky, 8-12 months. at any point in that process, a stakeholder can file suit to attempt to delay the process. it rarely works for long, but 6-12 months is easy. and that is all for a regulation that the agency backs fully, and that congress won't intervene in. there are many proposed regulations still being hammered out after 8 years of this administration.

And who says Newt never gave us anything...

Too Bad that doesn't include presidential pardons in the same time period.

Does Joe Lieberman approve? Can't do anything without his approval, that would be unacceptable.

This Act definitely works in this fashion -- I remember studying it in my Administrative Law class.

As far as other commenters' confusion, there are two different beasts here: executive orders, and administrative regulations, promulgated by executive agencies like OSHA, EPA, SEC, etc etc after notice and comment rulemaking and public administrative hearings. The executive orders can be reversed/re-issued with little problem; to un-do the administrative regulations requires going through the whole process all over again, and re-doing them all so quickly creates the possibility that a judge will invalidate the new regulation as based on politics and not public policy reasons (or whatever standard is in the relevant statute). Ironic, of course, given that the original regulations by the Bushies would really have been based on politics divorced from any substantive basis, but a court might not see it that way.

That's why this Act is so great. Congress will have a chance to KO all these regulations with a vote. Great stuff.

I'd like to clarify a few things, based on the Congressional Review Act (which can be found in the U.S. Code as chapter 8 of Title 5).

First, regulations reported by the executive normally take effect 60 days after Congress receives the report. This is precisely the window intended to give Congress time to review, and possibly disapprove the regulation. The exceptional period begins 60 days before congressional adjournment (the language "within 60 days of congressional adjournment" is unclear) and ends when Congress reconvenes (normally January 3rd). If a regulation is reported during this period, it is the same as if it were reported on the 15th day of the term (i.e. 18 January). Congress's 60-day review period then begins. The exceptional period does NOT begin 60 days prior to the inauguration, as implied (twice) in the Politico story.

Ultimately, the Congressional Review Act is only marginally more interesting at this time of year than at other times. It simply provides Congress a protection against a president trying to enact regulation while Congress is out of, or nearly at the the end of, session. In fact, it is not the imminent end of Bush's administration which makes it interesting, but rather the newly increased power of the Democrats in Congress. But as long as the Democrats have controlled both houses, they could have struck down distasteful executive regulations with a simple party-line vote. Is the Bush administration actually trying now to push through regs of a more objectionable nature than earlier in his administration? If not, then we're not likely to see a strong compelling need to exercise the Congressional Review Act.

Regarding regulations which have already taken effect: Normally, no regulation takes effect until the Congressional Review window has closed. But the Act allows the President the option of declaring that a regulation takes immediate effect (although he must provide a justification for it). Congress still has its 60-day window to review the regulation. "Any rule that takes effect and later is made of no force or effect by enactment of a joint resolution shall be treated as though such rule had never taken effect." Has the executive even issued any immediate-effect regulations since August 4th?

A Congressional resolution to disapprove a regulation is a law in the usual sense, meaning that the President can veto it, and Congress can potentially override the veto.

The restriction against filibuster is interesting. It seems to say that Congress may bloviate as they will when it comes to actions of their own initiative, but when considering actions of the executive branch, laxitude is patently inappropriate. Other provisions of this law point in the same direction.

Probably also worth mentioning: monetary policy of the Federal Reserve Board is exempt from Congressional Review!

This should be the agenda for the first 100 minutes of the new administration.