The House of Representatives voted on June 15 to approve a bill that could significantly shift federal regulatory authority away from the executive branch to Congress.
Lawmakers voted for the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, known as SOPRA, in a 220–211 vote. Most Republicans voted in favor of the measure, while most Democrats voted against it.
Under the bill, according to the analysis, “federal courts could overturn some agency decisions that they would have upheld under current law,” and some of the “decisions could affect federal spending by overturning regulations that affect direct spending, revenues, and spending subject to appropriation.”
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.), the sponsor of the measure, said a 1984 Supreme Court ruling—Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.—that created the principle of “Chevron deference” has essentially given the executive branch of the government significantly more authority than he believes is warranted under the Constitution. He argued that federal agencies have essentially superseded Congress by using the Chevron doctrine, violating the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers clause.
“Since 1984, when the Supreme Court ruled that courts must defer to an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute rather than what Congress intended, the executive branch has begun usurping the legislative branch to issue regulations with the force of law,” Fitzgerald said on June 15. “It is certainly not what our founders intended.”
The lawmaker said vast amounts of regulatory action have created unforeseen costs for ordinary Americans since the 1984 landmark ruling.
“The total annual cost of regulation is almost $2 trillion, or about 8 percent of the U.S. GDP,” he said. “If it were a country, for comparison, U.S. regulation would be the world’s eighth largest economy.
“Government works best when it can be held accountable.”
He also said that “unelected bureaucrats” now possess “far more power than intended because of mandated deference, like Chevron, during judicial review.”
“Over the last few decades, and as accelerated during the Obama and Biden administrations, our constitutional separation of powers has been undermined by Congress’s over-delegation of legislative powers to regulatory agencies in the executive branch,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) said on the House floor, according to reports.
Over the years, courts have used the 1984 Chevron doctrine to support their giving deference to federal authorities when ruling on a measure. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a dispute between New Jersey fishermen and the federal government that could lead to a ruling on the issue, according to some legal analysts.
While the bill has widespread Republican support and was approved in the lower chamber, it’s unlikely to move forward in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The White House has indicated that President Joe Biden would veto the measure if it gets to his desk.
In a statement this month, the Office of Management and Budget threatened a veto and said it would actually “undermine separation of powers, a fundamental element of our government, by attempting to jettison long standing principles concerning judicial review of agency interpretation and implementation of laws and regulations.”
“Agency interpretations that have been upheld under these principles have promoted economic growth, clean air and water, safe and healthy food, civil rights, public safety, crime reduction, wage increases, lowering costs, and safe working conditions,” the statement reads.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on the floor that the measure would “completely upend the administrative process” because it would force all federal courts to review agency decisions and “interpretations of statute on a de novo basis.”
“While Congress sets broad policies, we delegate authorities to executive agencies because we do not have the expertise to craft the technical regulations ourselves, and we rely on these agencies to carry out the policies we enact,” Nadler said.
“I think we have to, no pun intended, rein in executive overreach,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) told The Epoch Times on June 14.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said, “I think it’s an effort at deregulation that would weaken the ability to have common-sense regulation for safety.”
