REINS Act

H.R. 26 - REINS Act
House Floor Remarks
January 5, 2017

Mr. Speaker:

I support the REINS act, but want to underscore the point raised by Mr. Barr.   

The REINS Act says that any regulation – that is, an act with the force of law – that’s adopted by the executive branch and costs more than $100 million, must then be approved by Congress in order to take effect.

As necessary as this bill is in the current environment, I’m afraid we have it backwards.  Under the Constitution just read on this floor again today, it is not the role of the executive branch to make laws and for the legislative branch to approve or veto them.

Quite the contrary, making law is the singular prerogative of the legislative branch – the executive then approves or vetoes that law.

The REINS act is necessary solely because for years Congress has improperly ceded its law-making powers to the executive.  The REINS act is a manifestation of how far out of synch we have gotten with the Constitution.  

It is time we restored the proper role of the legislative branch to make law and for the executive branch to faithfully execute it.

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