House and Senate Republicans are readying the little-used Congressional Review Act to repeal perhaps dozens of regulations implemented by President Biden in the waning days of his administration.
Only certain Biden regulations can be axed by the GOP under the act, specifically those finalized by the administration by early August or later.
The list of those eligible for repeal is long and Republican lawmakers are salivating at their chance to wipe some of them off the books as soon as they take control of both the House, Senate and White House in January.
“We’ll do every possible regulation we can get to. We’ll use it on everything possible that’s a bad regulation.” Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said. “It’s a wonderful tool for undoing the bureaucratic excess of the Biden administration.”
Dozens of rules will be eligible for repeal, but Republicans will likely target two dozen or fewer due to the time it takes to get them to the president’s desk.
The act is rarely successful in wiping out regulations because it must pass both chambers by a simple majority and win the president’s signature. The CRA is kicked into high gear only when both chambers and the White House are under one-party control.
With slim majorities in both chambers and Mr. Trump returning to the Oval Office, Republicans have the green light to use the CRA once again to eliminate regulations imposed by a Democratic administration.
Mr. Trump pledged deregulation would be a top priority in his second term. The CRA is just one tool Republicans can use to reverse some of the thousands of rules and regulations Mr. Biden implemented during his single term.
Critics warn Republicans will use the CRA to undo environmental and safety protections, although Republican leaders in the House and Senate haven’t announced the list of regulations they’ll attempt to repeal.
Some of Mr. Biden’s latest environmental rules will likely be priorities.
In October, the Biden administration finalized a mandate requiring all lead drinking water pipes to be removed by 2027. The new rule is aimed at ensuring safe drinking water, but it has left states scrambling to come up with money to complete the massive project on time. Republicans may also move to repeal a slew of new regulations for mobile home manufacturing issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in September.
Some of Mr. Biden’s unfinished rules will also likely be on the chopping block if they are finalized before he leaves office. They include a pending rule aimed at protecting workers from extreme heat that many Republicans have criticized, as well as a proposed rule banning menthol cigarettes.
The heat protection rule would require employers to provide workers with water and a cool place to rest when the temperature reaches 80 degrees. At 90 degrees, employees would get mandatory 15-minute breaks after two hours of work.
Many Republicans say it would be difficult and costly for employers to implement.
Outside groups have begun lobbying the GOP to repeal eligible Biden regulations.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is calling on Republicans to use the CRA to repeal a new Biden administration rule that will allow the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to “arbitrarily weigh in” on carbon credit trading across its exchanges. According to the institute, the new rule adds “an unnecessary set of regulatory constraints” on carbon trading, which is a struggling market.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, when Republicans also controlled the House and the Senate, the GOP repealed a record-breaking 16 Obama-era regulations ranging from a gun background check requirement for those receiving federal disability payments to a stream protection rule that opponents said threatened mining jobs.
Under Mr. Biden, Democrats repealed just three Trump-era regulations using the CRA, most notably rescinding his methane emissions rule, which had rolled back President Obama’s more stringent oil and gas emission requirements.
When passed and signed into law, CRA legislation also blocks agencies from reissuing the same or similar regulations in the future.
Under the threat of a second Trump term, the Biden administration raced to finalize many regulations ahead of the August deadline so the rules would be ineligible for repeal by the new Congress.
Before he leaves office, Mr. Biden may also issue new regulations forgiving student loans or restricting oil and gas production, Republicans said.
Any midnight rules “will be ripe for us to target,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said.
• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this story.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.