The Congressional Review Act (CRA) provides Congress with an expedited procedure to overturn a previous administration’s regulations, but only ones that were made within a certain time. AAF’s Senior Regulatory Policy Analyst Dan Goldbeck has calculated that the next Congress could overturn any federal rulemaking published on or after May 13 using the CRA, although volatility will remain for predicting the exact date. While some notable Trump Administration rules now appear safe from the Act’s grasp, there are a handful of significant rules from the spring that remain likely targets, he notes.

His points:

• Potential targets under the CRA falling after May 13 could include deregulatory actions with an estimated combined savings of $11.7 billion as well as several actions instituting hotly debated social and legal policies; and
• Outside of some unforeseen issue that requires Congress to officially convene more than expected, any final rule published from now through the end of the year likely could be subject to CRA scrutiny in 2021.

Read the analysis.