Last Friday, the House GOP took on Dodd-Frank. Tuesday, they took on the Affordable Care Act. And yesterday, they decided to take on the entire regulatory process.
The bill in question was the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016. When Republicans introduce bills with “regulatory” or “regulation” in the title, they are always about undermining the regulatory process and preventing the government from working in the public interest:
This bill is yet another attempt by House Republicans to severely hinder government agencies in issuing rules and regulatory actions.
H.R. 5226 would require each agency to make publicly available on the agency website or on regulations.gov a list of: (1) each pending agency regulatory action; (2) the date of origination of the regulation; (3) most recent status; (4) an estimate of the date of completion of the final rule; (5) a description of the regulatory action; and (6) each public communication about the action issued by the agency, including the date of communication, the intended audience, the method by which the communication was transmitted, and a copy of the original communication. These requirements are overly burdensome and, if enacted, will severely impede the process for creating regulatory actions, which in turn could put the public at risk by preventing agencies from adopting rules to address real threats to public health, safety, and security.
The bill would also prohibit agencies from publicly disseminating information to “promote” a pending agency regulatory action. However, current law already bars agency employees from engaging in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns” when those campaigns are aimed at encouraging members of the public “to pressure Members of Congress to support Administration or Department legislative or appropriations proposals.” H.R. 5226 is so broadly written that almost any action by an agency can be seen as “promoting” a pending agency regulatory action.
While regulatory transparency is something both Democrats and Republicans in Congress both aim toward, this bill creates impossible requirements that would severely impede and hamper the regulatory process.
In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill.
The bill passed 250 to 171.
10 Democrats joined the GOP in voting for it:
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
David Scott (GA-13)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Charles Boustany (LA-03) offered an amendment to require that the results of a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) or a similar cost-benefit analysis, as well as the formula and data for the analysis, be included in the details disclosed by the agency on either regulations.gov or on the executive agency's website.
It passed 241 to 154.
13 Democrats voted for it:
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Ted Lieu (CA-33)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Gary Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)