Kiggans Votes to Limit Executive Overreach

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) released the following statement after voting for H.R. 277, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2023. The REINS Act would greatly limit government overreach by requiring Congress to pass a joint resolution of approval for any major rules enacted by federal agencies before they take effect. The bill passed the House this afternoon by a vote of 221-210. Notably, prior versions of the REINS Act were passed by the House with bipartisan support in both the 112^th and 115^th Congresses.

“In recent years, executive overreach has played a large role in the economic turmoil that everyday Americans are living through,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “Restoring fiscal sanity in Washington is one of the main reasons I came to Congress. Our democracy is built on a foundation of checks and balances; I’m proud to support this important measure and take an important step to shrink the size of the federal government, reduce spending, and provide much needed relief to economic Southeast Virginians.”

BACKGROUND

A major rule is defined in the bill as one that has an annual economic impact of $100 million or more, results in major cost or price increases for consumers, industries, Federal, State, or Local government agencies, or geographic regions, or results in significant adverse economic effects. Key points of the bill include:

• states that major rules will not take effect unless Congress enacts a joint resolution of approval within 70 legislative days;
• establishes an expedited voting process for said resolutions;
• retains the Congressional Review Act’s disapproval provision for non-major rules;
• allows the President to make a determination that a major rule may take effect for a 90-day period due to an imminent health or safety threat, for enforcement of criminal laws, for the purpose of national security, or pursuant to any statute implementing an international trade agreement.

According to the nonpartisan Competitive Enterprise Institute, agency rules total annual cost is $1.927 trillion, which is equal to nearly $15,000 per U.S. household.

The full text of the bill is available here.

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