OMB Director: We are going to push the limit on CRA
The new head of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, recently discussed the Congressional Review Act with Hugh Hewitt. During the interview, Director Mulvaney said that OMB is “looking into” an expansive view of the CRA, allowing Congress and the administration to repeal regulations from as far back as 1996.
Mr. Mulvaney said, “We are going to try and look at any ways to legally push the limit on how far back we can go.”
You can hear the interview here and read a transcript below.
Hugh Hewitt: Well, we’re going to dive deep into the budget here in a second, but I’ll also tell the folks at NBC that we ought to just get a town hall going with you. First, before I go to the budget, Congressional Review Act, it’s, there’s a way to read it that’s pinched, it says only the last 60 legislative days can we repeal those rules with a simple majority. There’s an expansive way to read it, which says we go back and if a report wasn’t filed, that rule is fair game. Have you looked into that, yet, Director Mulvaney?
Mick Mulvaney: Yeah, we’re looking into it along with a bunch of other people, keeping in mind that even the narrow reading of it, the 60 days is actually 60 legislative days. I can’t remember how far back that get us into last year, but since Congress wasn’t around much during the election year, and that’s not unusual, I think the 60 legislative days goes well back into the summer, so it gives us a good six months.
Hewitt: Yeah, June.
Mulvaney: Yeah, six months of the last days of the Obama administration to look back. So that even by itself narrowly read, that’s a tremendous opportunity. But we are going to try and look at any ways to legally push the limit on how far back we can go.
Hewitt: That’s very good news. It seems to me obvious that you’d want to push the limit and then see if a court would let them interpret CRA.
