US President-elect Donald Trump will be officially setting foot in the White House later this week but a number of his allies in Congress under the GOP are already contemplating of wiping out the legacy of outgoing President Barack Obama when it comes to policy areas and regulations pertaining to health care, trade pacts, environment, financial oversight, among other things.
Apparently, a good number of Republican legislators in Congress have set their sights on dismantling the legacy of President Obama and are reportedly looking for the most efficient ways to wipe out as much of his work in the past eight years as possible, reports The Atlantic.
Political analysts believe that it is likely to happen amidst claims of American politicians that the United States is already a politically mature nation as it seems that everything still boils down to politics.
As much as the Democrats do not want to have anything to do with the ways of the Republicans, the Republicans certainly do not want to follow the policy directives of the Democrats.
With the change of the US President, there is also a change of power in the political structure as the Republicans wrest control of Congress with the victory of Donald Trump. The last time that a Democratic President turned over the post was during the transition from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush back in 2001.
The legislators’ strategy
According to reports, the Republican legislators are looking at an obscure legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act or CRA to overturn rules that were freshly issued by federal agencies without going through the regular channels to become laws.
The CRA was passed in 1996 as part of Newt Gingrich and the Revolution’s ‘Contract with America.’
CRA resolutions cannot be filibustered, meaning Republicans need only a simple majority in both chambers to get the rollback party started.
Those last-minute midnight regulations Obama has been so defiantly issuing on everything from fuel efficiency standards to the funding of planned parenthood are expected to get the ax in Congress under the Trump administration.
Once a rule has been axed via CRA, agencies are barred from issuing a similar rule without express authorization from Congress. This means that not only is the CRA route quicker and easier than the usual legislative process, it also provides insurance against a pesky replacement rule.
Under CRA procedures, a resolution can be fast-tracked through committee and onto the floor of the Senate, where it is limited to 10 hours of debate. Once simple majorities in both chambers vote their support, the resolution is then whisked over to the president’s desk for consideration.
A hollow threat
During Obama’s tenure, congressional Republicans passed a handful of symbolic resolutions targeting rules issued by the Obama administration. Obama naturally vetoed them all.
That is often the fatal flaw of the CRA. The threat of presidential veto renders it a hollow threat. But unsurprisingly, Republicans have been invoking the CRA with great fondness of late.
The Democrats will find themselves less than delighted by CRA’s impact on a new day coming believing that toying with the legislative process invariably has unforeseen consequences.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the efforts to use the Congressional Review Act come at a time when the stars seem aligned.
House committee aides have been mum on what rules would be targeted first. An aide for the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy, trade, and entitlement programs, called the deliberations an ongoing process, notes Roll Call.
An aide to the Energy and Commerce Committee, which would consider a resolution that could roll back an energy efficiency rule relating to climate policy, said the panel was figuring out which regulations would qualify.
The Senate Republican Policy Committee has listed 11 regulations suitable for elimination under the Congressional Review Act.