Republicans are cooking up a plan to have their upcoming budget reconciliation legislation include a proposal that’s long been a rallying cry for the conservative movement.
Several GOP lawmakers have said they are working on making sure elements of the “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act” ride in the party-line package, which is still in development.
The “REINS Act” would require Congress to approve all major rules. But even though conservatives have long seen it as a way to cut the bureaucracy’s power, it failed to become law the last time Republicans controlled Washington, and some lawmakers wonder whether it meets the criteria for budget reconciliation.
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said the “REINS Act” would “fundamentally drain the swamp and change the way government operates — that will have a longer lasting impact than any savings, any spending, that are being currently being discussed.”
The budget reconciliation process allows bills to pass by simple majority and bypass the Senate filibuster. That means provisions have to be fiscal in nature and clear the Senate’s parliamentarian.
Cammack declined to offer specifics on how the “REINS Act” would make the cut but called it “doable.” “It’s just going to require a little bit of legwork on our part,” she said.
Interviews with a half-dozen lawmakers suggested senators and House members were exploring how the policy could be amenable to the Senate parliamentarian, but they haven’t quite figured it out yet.
“We’ve had extensive meetings to try to make it reconcilable,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“REINS Act” proponents still have time. House and Senate Republicans are working on budget blueprints to guide committees on writing the reconciliation legislation.
The Senate Budget Committee plans to mark up its blueprint Wednesday. The House Budget Committee is crafting a resolution that can pass.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) — whose bio on X says, “Pass the REINS Act now!” — said the reconciliation package would likely not include the regulatory legislation “lock, stock and barrel” — but features of it could be.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said, “I’m struggling to see how it would work.” But Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) said the House could include the language and “see if the parliamentarian kicks it out or not.”
The Senate majority could fire the parliamentarian, but that hasn’t happened in 24 years. When asked about the potential, Paul said, “There has not been any discussion of that.”
Cramer suggested tying the “REINS Act” to raising the debt ceiling as a way to secure buy-in from conservatives.
Progressive advocacy group Public Citizen has assailed the legislation as “one of the most radical threats in generations to our government’s ability to protect the public from harm.”
And the Center for Progressive Reform’s James Goodwin said it would effectively “repeal nearly a century’s worth of public interest laws.”
“A simple majority in either chamber could stop a rule dead in its tracks even if had been under development for years, enjoyed a strong legal and policy basis, and was crafted with extensive public input,” Goodwin said. “And that simple majority could do it for any reason or no reason at all.”
