FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 18, 2024

 Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

Dr. Rand Paul and Rep. Kat Cammack Introduce REINS Act to Put Power Back in the People’s Hands

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Congresswoman Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) introduced the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act to help put power back in the people’s hands instead of the administrative state.

“The whims of an unaccountable administrative state should never rule our lives. For too long, an ever-growing federal bureaucracy has piled regulations and red tape on the backs of the American people without any approval by Americans’ elected representatives. The recent Supreme Court decision to dismantle Chevron deference stripped away some of the power it wrongly gave to unelected bureaucrats years ago, but there’s still work to do. By making Congress more accountable for the most costly and intrusive federal rules, our REINS Act would give Kentuckians and all Americans a greater voice in determining whether these major rules are truly in America’s best interests,” said Dr. Paul.

“Nameless, faceless, unelected bureaucrats in Washington have had too much power over the American people for far too long. The federal bureaucracy’s rapid growth over the last several decades has resulted in serious damage to the livelihoods of millions of Americans with reckless rulemaking not approved by the body granted Article I authority,” said Rep. Kat Cammack. “The REINS Act is a critical step toward ‘reining’ in this unchecked power and restoring the lawmaking authority to Congress instead of the executive branch. With SCOTUS’ Loper Bright decision earlier this year, we’ve made solid progress in dismantling Chevron, and I’m encouraged for the future of REINS and what it will mean in stopping executive overreach. I thank Senator Paul for his partnership in the Senate and look forward to earning my colleagues’ support for this legislation in the House.”

Cosponsors in the Senate include U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and Rick Scott (R-FL).  

“The American people deserve a voice against unelected bureaucrats mandating burdensome regulations. The REINS Act will ensure major rule changes that could hurt consumers are first put before the people’s elected officials for approval. This legislation will give power back to the people and limit bureaucratic red tape,” said Sen. Blackburn.

“The last thing Montanans want to see is big government overreach and more heavy-handed mandates from Washington. It’s time we give the American people through their elected leaders the power to hold DC bureaucrats accountable,” said Sen. Daines.

“James Madison said, ‘It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood …’ We are now in this circumstance where, not only are our laws so voluminous and complex that we can’t read them, but they’re not even written by men and women of our own choosing. This kind of unreviewable legislative discretion has historically been reserved for despots and tyrants. This is tyranny, and we’re going to handle it with the REINS Act,” said Sen. Lee.

“American entrepreneurs and businesses know all too well how bureaucratic regulation can lead to job-destroying uncertainty. By returning lawmaking power to the people’s elected representatives in Congress, the REINS Act is an important measure that will bring greater transparency and accountability to a regulatory system that undermines private sector job creation,” said Sen. Rubio.

“The Supreme Court’s repudiation of the Chevron deference doctrine in Loper Bright is not the end of the battle against the bureaucracy’s unchecked control, but only the beginning. I am proud to co-sponsor Senator Paul’s REINS Act in our efforts to restore power in the Article 1 branch, the people’s branch, and away from these nameless, unaccountable bureaucrats who have governed by fiat for too long. The American people deserve a government that is responsive and accountable to them. That is how the Founders always intended for our government to function when they established this great nation,” said Sen. Schmitt. 

“After nearly four years of the Biden-Harris administration’s gross expansion of the bureaucracy of the federal government and forcing more burdensome regulations on hardworking families, it is time to cut the red tape and Make Washington Work for the American people. I am proud to stand with Senator Rand Paul to hold Washington accountable, get big government out of the way and put some fiscal sense back into Congress,” said Sen. Rick Scott. 

The REINS Act also has wide support:

“Four years of unprecedented executive branch spending and a record-setting stream of new rules from unelected bureaucrats in Washington have caused the price of everything to go up at the same time the value of every dollar has gone down. American families are left paying more for less in a broken economy that was roaring just a few short years ago,” said Tarren Bragdon, President and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability. “The REINS Act would empower Congress to free working families from the suffocating weight of the Biden-Harris bureaucracy and cure the cost-of-living crisis dimming the American Dream. The REINS Act cuts to the core of the fundamental question facing our nation at this critical moment in history: Do we want our future determined by unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., or the elected representatives closest to the people?”

“For years, the executive branch has grown its power and subverted the will of the people by imposing expensive rules and regulations that should require the consent of Congress. No administration should have the authority to place sweeping regulations on every facet of Americans’ daily lives without giving them the chance to weigh in through their elected representatives and fight back when the executive branch skirts the law. Sen. Paul’s updated REINS Act will help restore the legal rights of Americans and the balance of power laid out in the Constitution,” said Ryan Walker, Executive Vice President of Heritage Action. 

“For too long, bureaucrats in the administrative state have imposed trillions of dollars in regulatory costs onto American citizens and businesses as they embark on their personal crusades – all without needing the support of a single member of the legislative branch. Now that the Supreme Court has overturned the Chevron Doctrine, leaders on Capitol Hill must pass the REINs Act to return Article 1 lawmaking authority to its rightful home in Congress and end the delegation of power to unelected regulators,” said Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh. “We applaud Sen. Rand Paul for his work to introduce and champion this bill in the Senate. Every member of Congress should support this commonsense plan to create a more representative approach to how the Federal Government imposes the hidden tax of regulation,” said David McIntosh, President of Club For Growth.

“Senator Paul’s updated version of the REINS Act is an essential government reform bill that would strengthen congressional oversight, put a brake on administrative state power, and reinstate accountability in the rulemaking process. Building upon all the good the preexisting REINSAct would do, Senator Paul’s updated REINS Act includes a number of new provisions that would further empower Congress to check big government. Importantly, the bill would require that guidance documents and other forms of “regulatory dark matter” be subject to congressional approval. The bill would also address the concern that rules and guidance documents are not properly submitted to Congress or the Government Accountability Office. Together, these provisions would help give greater scrutiny to the regulatory process – a move especially important now since the Biden administration has dismantled President Trump’s guidance portals and rewrote the rules of rulemaking with their Modernizing Regulatory Review directive (Executive Order 14,094). These updates are vitally important as the Supreme Court’s recent rejection of the Chevron Doctrine still leaves progressives with many tools in their toolbox to work around Congress and pursue their regulatory pursuits. Ultimately, Senator Paul’s updated REINS Act is a vital step in restoring accountability to the administrative state and in ensuring that the American people are governed by their duly elected representatives, rather than by unaccountable bureaucrats,” said Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Fred L. Smith Jr. Fellow in Regulatory Studies at Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“Regulatory agencies seem to think they can make any rules they want. The REINS Act was already an important reminder that Congress has lawmaking powers, and executive agencies do not. The new version’s expanded protections make REINS even more urgent to pass,” said Ryan Young, Senior Economist at Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“Federal regulation is out of control.  It’s time for Congress to REINS it in,” said James Carter, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Treasury (2002-06), America First Policy Institute.

“The REINS Act is desperately needed.  We hear a lot about defending democracy today, but we don’t see much real effort from the administrative state to honor the principles of democracy. Senator Paul’s updated REINS Act will make sure that the people’s representatives in Congress will have to approve of any major rules proposed by an unelected administrative agency. If the economic impact of a rule is $100 million or more, it must have congressional approval. This guarantees that we the people have a voice in the regulatory state that has the impact of being law. It would also guarantee individuals the right to use as an affirmative defense that the regulation they are accused of violating do not logically follow from the statute. It would also allow citizens to seek judicial relief when an agency fails to seek or obtain congressional approval. Any who opposes the REINS Act is clearly not a fan of democracy, but rather prefers a system of unelected oligarchy,” said George Landrith, President, Frontiers of Freedom Institute.

Background:

Under the REINS Act, once major rules are drafted, they must then be affirmatively approved by both chambers of Congress and then signed by the President, satisfying the bicameralism and presentment requirements of the Constitution. Currently, regulations ultimately take effect unless Congress specifically disapproves.

The bill defines a “major” rule as one that the Office of Management and Budget determines may result in an economic impact of $100 million or greater each year; “a major increase in costs or prices” for American consumers, government agencies, regions, or industries; or “significant adverse effects” on the economy.

The REINS Act also includes the following changes from the original bill which has been introduced every Congress since Dr. Paul has been in office:

• New Defense for Individuals: Individuals can argue that the average person would not have known their actions violated federal law if the statute did not clearly state it.
• Right to Sue: People can sue to stop enforcement if an agency implements a major rule without getting congressional approval.
• LIBERTY Act: Agency guidance with an economic impact of $100 million or more needs congressional approval just like major rules.
• Deregulatory Actions Exempted: Agencies do not need congressional approval to withdraw costly or burdensome rules

You can read the REINS Act HERE.

Along with introducing the REINS Act, Dr. Paul also recently participated in efforts discussing the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright, which overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine. 

Dr. Paul also joined Sen. Eric Schmitt in his efforts to retake legislative authority away from administrative agencies and place it back where it belongs: the Article I branch. These efforts include the filing of the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA), the launching of a working group of Senators that will regularly meet to discuss furthering this goal, and letters to 101 agencies that have published more than 50 final rules since 2000 demanding answers on how current regulatory processes will be handled following the Loper Bright decision. 

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