“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” – U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 1

Excessive delegation of Congress’ constitutional responsibility for making the law of the land to the Executive Branch has created a lack of accountability in Congress for many of the most burdensome federal regulations.  

Although this trend is not new, allowing major decisions to be made by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats is not consistent with the constitutional responsibilities of our representative government.  

To restore Congressional accountability for the regulatory process, Congressman Geoff Davis [KY-04] introduced the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.  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.

A recent study commissioned by the Small Business Administration found that annual regulatory compliance costs in the United States hit $1.75 trillion in 2008.  A staggering figure that exceeds the total collected from income taxes that year ($1.449 trillion).

Not all regulations are bad; many provide important public safeguards.  However, when a proposed regulation could have an impact in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars on our economy, it should be subject to the review by the elected representatives of the people.

The REINS Act is about improving the regulatory process.  If the REINS Act becomes law, Members of Congress will be accountable to their constituents on the question of whether a new regulation is truly needed, or is an unnecessary burden.  This will encourage Congress and agencies to work together to develop and pass regulations that implement the original intent of laws.

Furthermore, the REINS Act would prevent Administrations from either party from bypassing Congress to implement a political agenda through regulation.

The REINS Act is a commonsense reform that will increase congressional accountability, improve the regulatory process, and protect the American people from further unnecessary regulatory burdens on our economy.

For more, check out the REINS Act on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/REINSact

And be sure to become a Citizen Cosponsor of the REINS Act on Facebook by clicking "COSPONSOR" below: