Jeff McCoy: No time constraints for rolling back regulations

3.6.2017

Writing for Pacific Legal Foundation’s Liberty Blog, attorney Jeff McCoy explains that under the Congressional Review Act, regulations can be rolled back without filibuster or debate in the senate.

This is a point that has been misreported in the discussion of the Congressional Review Act. Some have mistakenly said that the act requires 10 hours of debate in the Senate. The act allows up to 10 hours of debate, but a simple majority of senators could decide to limit debate to a few minutes (or none at all) if they wanted.

Mr. McCoy writes:

Senators should not feel constrained by a perceived requirement to give every CRA resolution 10 hours of debate time. Some rules may merit that much attention before an up-or-down vote, but the resolutions of disapproval themselves are not amendable, and the Senate rarely allocates 10 hours of debate to an unamendable, one-paragraph resolution.  Ultimately, the CRA allows a bare majority of senators to decide the amount of precious floor time each resolution will receive (up to 10 hours) and how many regulations are rolled back.

You can read the the full post on PLF’s Liberty Blog.