II
Calendar No. 103
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 277
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE20, 2023
Received; read the first time
J
UNE21, 2023
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
AN ACT
To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide
that major rules of the executive branch shall have no
force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is
enacted into law.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulations from the 4
Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023’’ or the 5
‘‘REINS Act of 2023’’. 6
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 1
The purpose of this Act is to increase accountability 2
for and transparency in the Federal regulatory process. 3
Section 1 of article I of the United States Constitution 4
grants all legislative powers to Congress. Over time, Con-5
gress has excessively delegated its constitutional charge 6
while failing to conduct appropriate oversight and retain 7
accountability for the content of the laws it passes. By 8
requiring a vote in Congress, the REINS Act will result 9
in more carefully drafted and detailed legislation, an im-10
proved regulatory process, and a legislative branch that 11
is truly accountable to the American people for the laws 12
imposed upon them. 13
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE-14
MAKING. 15
Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 16
to read as follows: 17
‘‘CHAPTER 8—CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW 18
OF AGENCY RULEMAKING 19
‘‘Sec.
‘‘801. Congressional review.
‘‘802. Congressional approval procedure for major rules.
‘‘803. Congressional disapproval procedure for nonmajor rules.
‘‘804. Definitions.
‘‘805. Judicial review.
‘‘806. Exemption for monetary policy.
‘‘807. Effective date of certain rules.
‘‘808. Review of rules currently in effect.
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‘‘§ 801. Congressional review 1
‘‘(a)(1)(A) Before a rule may take effect, the Federal 2
agency promulgating such rule shall publish in the Federal 3
Register a list of information on which the rule is based, 4
including data, scientific and economic studies, and cost- 5
benefit analyses, and identify how the public can access 6
such information online, and shall submit to each House 7
of the Congress and to the Comptroller General a report 8
containing— 9
‘‘(i) a copy of the rule; 10
‘‘(ii) a concise general statement relating to the 11
rule; 12
‘‘(iii) a finding, rendered in consultation with 13
the Administrator of the Office of Information and 14
Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and 15
Budget, whether the rule is a major or nonmajor 16
rule, including an explanation of the finding specifi-17
cally addressing each criteria for a major rule con-18
tained within subparagraphs (A) through (C) of sec-19
tion 804(2); 20
‘‘(iv) a list of any other related regulatory ac-21
tions intended to implement the same statutory pro-22
vision or regulatory objective as well as the indi-23
vidual and aggregate economic effects of those ac-24
tions; 25
‘‘(v) the proposed effective date of the rule; and 26
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‘‘(vi) a statement of the constitutional authority 1
authorizing the agency to make the rule. 2
‘‘(B) On the date of the submission of the report 3
under subparagraph (A), the Federal agency promulgating 4
the rule shall submit to the Comptroller General and make 5
available to each House of Congress (and to each com-6
mittee of jurisdiction in each House)— 7
‘‘(i) a complete copy of the cost-benefit analysis 8
of the rule, if any, including an analysis of any jobs 9
added or lost, differentiating between public and pri-10
vate sector jobs; 11
‘‘(ii) the agency’s actions pursuant to sections 12
603, 604, 605, 607, and 609 of this title; 13
‘‘(iii) the agency’s actions pursuant to sections 14
202, 203, 204, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates 15
Reform Act of 1995; 16
‘‘(iv) an estimate of the effect on inflation of 17
the rule; and 18
‘‘(v) any other relevant information or require-19
ments under any other Act and any relevant Execu-20
tive orders. 21
‘‘(C) Upon receipt of a report submitted under sub-22
paragraph (A), each House shall provide copies of the re-23
port to the chairman and ranking member of each stand-24
ing committee with jurisdiction under the rules of the 25
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House of Representatives or the Senate to report a bill 1
to amend the provision of law under which the rule is 2
issued. 3
‘‘(D) If requested in writing by a member of Con-4
gress— 5
‘‘(i) the Comptroller General shall make a de-6
termination whether an agency action qualifies as a 7
rule for purposes of this chapter, and shall submit 8
to Congress this determination not later than 60 9
days after the date of the request; and 10
‘‘(ii) the Comptroller General, in consultation 11
with the Director of the Congressional Budget Of-12
fice, shall make a determination whether a rule is 13
considered a major rule under the provisions of this 14
act, and shall submit to Congress this determination 15
not later than 90 days after the date of the request. 16
For purposes of this section, a determination under this 17
subparagraph shall be deemed to be a report under sub-18
paragraph (A). 19
‘‘(2)(A) The Comptroller General shall provide a re-20
port on each major rule to the committees of jurisdiction 21
by the end of 15 calendar days after the submission or 22
publication date. The report of the Comptroller General 23
shall include an assessment of the agency’s compliance 24
with procedural steps required by paragraph (1)(B) and 25
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an assessment of whether the major rule imposes any new 1
limits or mandates on private-sector activity. 2
‘‘(B) Federal agencies shall cooperate with the Comp-3
troller General by providing information relevant to the 4
Comptroller General’s report under subparagraph (A). 5
‘‘(3) A major rule relating to a report submitted 6
under paragraph (1) shall take effect upon enactment of 7
a joint resolution of approval described in section 802 or 8
as provided for in the rule following enactment of a joint 9
resolution of approval described in section 802, whichever 10
is later. 11
‘‘(4) A nonmajor rule shall take effect as provided 12
by section 803 after submission to Congress under para-13
graph (1). 14
‘‘(5) If a joint resolution of approval relating to a 15
major rule is not enacted within the period provided in 16
subsection (b)(2), then a joint resolution of approval relat-17
ing to the same rule may not be considered under this 18
chapter in the same Congress by either the House of Rep-19
resentatives or the Senate. 20
‘‘(b)(1) A major rule shall not take effect unless the 21
Congress enacts a joint resolution of approval described 22
under section 802. 23
‘‘(2) If a joint resolution described in subsection (a) 24
is not enacted into law by the end of 70 session days or 25
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legislative days, as applicable, beginning on the date on 1
which the report referred to in subsection (a)(1)(A) is re-2
ceived by Congress (excluding days either House of Con-3
gress is adjourned for more than 3 days during a session 4
of Congress), then the rule described in that resolution 5
shall be deemed not to be approved and such rule shall 6
not take effect. 7
‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 8
section (except subject to paragraph (3)), a major rule 9
may take effect for one 90-calendar-day period if the 10
President makes a determination under paragraph (2) and 11
submits written notice of such determination to the Con-12
gress. 13
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) applies to a determination made 14
by the President by Executive order that the major rule 15
should take effect because such rule is— 16
‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent threat 17
to health or safety or other emergency; 18
‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of criminal 19
laws; 20
‘‘(C) necessary for national security; or 21
‘‘(D) issued pursuant to any statute imple-22
menting an international trade agreement. 23
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‘‘(3) An exercise by the President of the authority 1
under this subsection shall have no effect on the proce-2
dures under section 802. 3
‘‘(d)(1) In addition to the opportunity for review oth-4
erwise provided under this chapter, in the case of any rule 5
for which a report was submitted in accordance with sub-6
section (a)(1)(A) during the period beginning on the date 7
occurring— 8
‘‘(A) in the case of the Senate, 60 session days; 9
or 10
‘‘(B) in the case of the House of Representa-11
tives, 60 legislative days, 12
before the date the Congress is scheduled to adjourn a 13
session of Congress through the date on which the same 14
or succeeding Congress first convenes its next session, sec-15
tions 802 and 803 shall apply to such rule in the suc-16
ceeding session of Congress. 17
‘‘(2)(A) In applying sections 802 and 803 for pur-18
poses of such additional review, a rule described under 19
paragraph (1) shall be treated as though— 20
‘‘(i) such rule were published in the Federal 21
Register on— 22
‘‘(I) in the case of the Senate, the 15th 23
session day; or 24
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‘‘(II) in the case of the House of Rep-1
resentatives, the 15th legislative day, 2
after the succeeding session of Congress first con-3
venes; and 4
‘‘(ii) a report on such rule were submitted to 5
Congress under subsection (a)(1) on such date. 6
‘‘(B) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed 7
to affect the requirement under subsection (a)(1) that a 8
report shall be submitted to Congress before a rule can 9
take effect. 10
‘‘(3) A rule described under paragraph (1) shall take 11
effect as otherwise provided by law (including other sub-12
sections of this section). 13
‘‘§ 802. Congressional approval procedure for major 14
rules 15
‘‘(a)(1) For purposes of this section, the term ‘joint 16
resolution’ means only a joint resolution addressing a re-17
port classifying a rule as major pursuant to section 18
801(a)(1)(A)(iii) that— 19
‘‘(A) bears no preamble; 20
‘‘(B) bears the following title (with blanks filled 21
as appropriate): ‘Approving the rule submitted by 22
lll relating to lll.’; 23
‘‘(C) includes after its resolving clause only the 24
following (with blanks filled as appropriate): ‘That 25
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Congress approves the rule submitted by lll re-1
lating to lll.’; and 2
‘‘(D) is introduced pursuant to paragraph (2). 3
‘‘(2) After a House of Congress receives a report 4
classifying a rule as major pursuant to section 5
801(a)(1)(A)(iii), the majority leader of that House (or 6
his or her respective designee) shall introduce (by request, 7
if appropriate) a joint resolution described in paragraph 8
(1)— 9
‘‘(A) in the case of the House of Representa-10
tives, within 3 legislative days; and 11
‘‘(B) in the case of the Senate, within 3 session 12
days. 13
‘‘(3) A joint resolution described in paragraph (1) 14
shall not be subject to amendment at any stage of pro-15
ceeding. 16
‘‘(b) A joint resolution described in subsection (a) 17
shall be referred in each House of Congress to the commit-18
tees having jurisdiction over the provision of law under 19
which the rule is issued. 20
‘‘(c) In the Senate, if the committee or committees 21
to which a joint resolution described in subsection (a) has 22
been referred have not reported it at the end of 15 session 23
days after its introduction, such committee or committees 24
shall be automatically discharged from further consider-25
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ation of the resolution and it shall be placed on the cal-1
endar. A vote on final passage of the resolution shall be 2
taken on or before the close of the 15th session day after 3
the resolution is reported by the committee or committees 4
to which it was referred, or after such committee or com-5
mittees have been discharged from further consideration 6
of the resolution. 7
‘‘(d)(1) In the Senate, when the committee or com-8
mittees to which a joint resolution is referred have re-9
ported, or when a committee or committees are discharged 10
(under subsection (c)) from further consideration of a 11
joint resolution described in subsection (a), it is at any 12
time thereafter in order (even though a previous motion 13
to the same effect has been disagreed to) for a motion 14
to proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution, and 15
all points of order against the joint resolution (and against 16
consideration of the joint resolution) are waived. The mo-17
tion is not subject to amendment, or to a motion to post-18
pone, or to a motion to proceed to the consideration of 19
other business. A motion to reconsider the vote by which 20
the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in 21
order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of the 22
joint resolution is agreed to, the joint resolution shall re-23
main the unfinished business of the Senate until disposed 24
of. 25
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‘‘(2) In the Senate, debate on the joint resolution, 1
and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection 2
therewith, shall be limited to not more than 2 hours, which 3
shall be divided equally between those favoring and those 4
opposing the joint resolution. A motion to further limit 5
debate is in order and not debatable. An amendment to, 6
or a motion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the 7
consideration of other business, or a motion to recommit 8
the joint resolution is not in order. 9
‘‘(3) In the Senate, immediately following the conclu-10
sion of the debate on a joint resolution described in sub-11
section (a), and a single quorum call at the conclusion of 12
the debate if requested in accordance with the rules of the 13
Senate, the vote on final passage of the joint resolution 14
shall occur. 15
‘‘(4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating 16
to the application of the rules of the Senate to the proce-17
dure relating to a joint resolution described in subsection 18
(a) shall be decided without debate. 19
‘‘(e) In the House of Representatives, if any com-20
mittee to which a joint resolution described in subsection 21
(a) has been referred has not reported it to the House 22
at the end of 15 legislative days after its introduction, 23
such committee shall be discharged from further consider-24
ation of the joint resolution, and it shall be placed on the 25
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appropriate calendar. On the second and fourth Thursdays 1
of each month it shall be in order at any time for the 2
Speaker to recognize a Member who favors passage of a 3
joint resolution that has appeared on the calendar for at 4
least 5 legislative days to call up that joint resolution for 5
immediate consideration in the House without intervention 6
of any point of order. When so called up a joint resolution 7
shall be considered as read and shall be debatable for 1 8
hour equally divided and controlled by the proponent and 9
an opponent, and the previous question shall be considered 10
as ordered to its passage without intervening motion. It 11
shall not be in order to reconsider the vote on passage. 12
If a vote on final passage of the joint resolution has not 13
been taken by the third Thursday on which the Speaker 14
may recognize a Member under this subsection, such vote 15
shall be taken on that day. 16
‘‘(f)(1) If, before passing a joint resolution described 17
in subsection (a), one House receives from the other a 18
joint resolution having the same text, then— 19
‘‘(A) the joint resolution of the other House 20
shall not be referred to a committee; and 21
‘‘(B) the procedure in the receiving House shall 22
be the same as if no joint resolution had been re-23
ceived from the other House until the vote on pas-24
sage, when the joint resolution received from the 25
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other House shall supplant the joint resolution of 1
the receiving House. 2
‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to the House of 3
Representatives if the joint resolution received from the 4
Senate is a revenue measure. 5
‘‘(g) If either House has not taken a vote on final 6
passage of the joint resolution by the last day of the period 7
described in section 801(b)(2), then such vote shall be 8
taken on that day. 9
‘‘(h) This section and section 803 are enacted by 10
Congress— 11
‘‘(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 12
the Senate and House of Representatives, respec-13
tively, and as such are deemed to be part of the 14
rules of each House, respectively, but applicable only 15
with respect to the procedure to be followed in that 16
House in the case of a joint resolution described in 17
subsection (a) and superseding other rules only 18
where explicitly so; and 19
‘‘(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 20
right of either House to change the rules (so far as 21
they relate to the procedure of that House) at any 22
time, in the same manner and to the same extent as 23
in the case of any other rule of that House. 24
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‘‘§ 803. Congressional disapproval procedure for 1
nonmajor rules 2
‘‘(a) For purposes of this section, the term ‘joint res-3
olution’ means only a joint resolution introduced in the 4
period beginning on the date on which the report referred 5
to in section 801(a)(1)(A) is received by Congress and 6
ending 60 days thereafter (excluding days either House 7
of Congress is adjourned for more than 3 days during a 8
session of Congress), the matter after the resolving clause 9
of which is as follows: ‘That Congress disapproves the 10
nonmajor rule submitted by the lll relating to 11
lll, and such rule shall have no force or effect.’ (The 12
blank spaces being appropriately filled in). 13
‘‘(b) A joint resolution described in subsection (a) 14
shall be referred to the committees in each House of Con-15
gress with jurisdiction. 16
‘‘(c) In the Senate, if the committee to which is re-17
ferred a joint resolution described in subsection (a) has 18
not reported such joint resolution (or an identical joint 19
resolution) at the end of 15 session days after the date 20
of introduction of the joint resolution, such committee may 21
be discharged from further consideration of such joint res-22
olution upon a petition supported in writing by 30 Mem-23
bers of the Senate, and such joint resolution shall be 24
placed on the calendar. 25
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‘‘(d)(1) In the Senate, when the committee to which 1
a joint resolution is referred has reported, or when a com-2
mittee is discharged (under subsection (c)) from further 3
consideration of a joint resolution described in subsection 4
(a), it is at any time thereafter in order (even though a 5
previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) 6
for a motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint 7
resolution, and all points of order against the joint resolu-8
tion (and against consideration of the joint resolution) are 9
waived. The motion is not subject to amendment, or to 10
a motion to postpone, or to a motion to proceed to the 11
consideration of other business. A motion to reconsider the 12
vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall 13
not be in order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration 14
of the joint resolution is agreed to, the joint resolution 15
shall remain the unfinished business of the Senate until 16
disposed of. 17
‘‘(2) In the Senate, debate on the joint resolution, 18
and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection 19
therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 hours, 20
which shall be divided equally between those favoring and 21
those opposing the joint resolution. A motion to further 22
limit debate is in order and not debatable. An amendment 23
to, or a motion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to 24
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the consideration of other business, or a motion to recom-1
mit the joint resolution is not in order. 2
‘‘(3) In the Senate, immediately following the conclu-3
sion of the debate on a joint resolution described in sub-4
section (a), and a single quorum call at the conclusion of 5
the debate if requested in accordance with the rules of the 6
Senate, the vote on final passage of the joint resolution 7
shall occur. 8
‘‘(4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating 9
to the application of the rules of the Senate to the proce-10
dure relating to a joint resolution described in subsection 11
(a) shall be decided without debate. 12
‘‘(e) In the Senate, the procedure specified in sub-13
section (c) or (d) shall not apply to the consideration of 14
a joint resolution respecting a nonmajor rule— 15
‘‘(1) after the expiration of the 60 session days 16
beginning with the applicable submission or publica-17
tion date; or 18
‘‘(2) if the report under section 801(a)(1)(A) 19
was submitted during the period referred to in sec-20
tion 801(d)(1), after the expiration of the 60 session 21
days beginning on the 15th session day after the 22
succeeding session of Congress first convenes. 23
‘‘(f) If, before the passage by one House of a joint 24
resolution of that House described in subsection (a), that 25
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House receives from the other House a joint resolution 1
described in subsection (a), then the following procedures 2
shall apply: 3
‘‘(1) The joint resolution of the other House 4
shall not be referred to a committee. 5
‘‘(2) With respect to a joint resolution described 6
in subsection (a) of the House receiving the joint 7
resolution— 8
‘‘(A) the procedure in that House shall be 9
the same as if no joint resolution had been re-10
ceived from the other House; but 11
‘‘(B) the vote on final passage shall be on 12
the joint resolution of the other House. 13
‘‘§ 804. Definitions 14
‘‘For purposes of this chapter: 15
‘‘(1) The term ‘Federal agency’ means any 16
agency as that term is defined in section 551(1). 17
‘‘(2) The term ‘major rule’ means any rule, in-18
cluding an interim final rule, that the Administrator 19
of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs 20
of the Office of Management and Budget or the 21
Federal agency promulgating such rule finds has re-22
sulted in or is likely to result in— 23
‘‘(A) an annual effect on the economy of 24
$100 million or more; 25
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‘‘(B) a major increase in costs or prices for 1
consumers, individual industries, Federal, 2
State, or local government agencies, or geo-3
graphic regions; 4
‘‘(C) significant adverse effects on competi-5
tion, employment, investment, productivity, in-6
novation, or the ability of United States-based 7
enterprises to compete with foreign-based enter-8
prises in domestic and export markets; or 9
‘‘(D) in an increase in mandatory vaccina-10
tions. 11
‘‘(3) The term ‘nonmajor rule’ means any rule 12
that is not a major rule. 13
‘‘(4) The term ‘rule’ has the meaning given 14
such term in section 551, except that such term— 15
‘‘(A) includes interpretative rules, general 16
statements of policy, and all other agency guid-17
ance documents; and 18
‘‘(B) does not include— 19
‘‘(i) any rule of particular applica-20
bility, including a rule that approves or 21
prescribes for the future rates, wages, 22
prices, services, or allowances therefore, 23
corporate or financial structures, reorga-24
nizations, mergers, or acquisitions thereof, 25
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or accounting practices or disclosures bear-1
ing on any of the foregoing; 2
‘‘(ii) any rule relating to agency man-3
agement or personnel; or 4
‘‘(iii) any rule of agency organization, 5
procedure, or practice that does not sub-6
stantially affect the rights or obligations of 7
non-agency parties. 8
‘‘(5) The term ‘submission or publication date’, 9
except as otherwise provided in this chapter, 10
means— 11
‘‘(A) in the case of a major rule, the date 12
on which the Congress receives the report sub-13
mitted under section 801(a)(1); and 14
‘‘(B) in the case of a nonmajor rule, the 15
later of— 16
‘‘(i) the date on which the Congress 17
receives the report submitted under section 18
801(a)(1); and 19
‘‘(ii) the date on which the nonmajor 20
rule is published in the Federal Register, if 21
so published. 22
‘‘§ 805. Judicial review 23
‘‘(a) No determination, finding, action, or omission 24
under this chapter shall be subject to judicial review. 25
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‘‘(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a court may de-1
termine whether a Federal agency has completed the nec-2
essary requirements under this chapter for a rule to take 3
effect. 4
‘‘(c) The enactment of a joint resolution of approval 5
under section 802 shall not be interpreted to serve as a 6
grant or modification of statutory authority by Congress 7
for the promulgation of a rule, shall not extinguish or af-8
fect any claim, whether substantive or procedural, against 9
any alleged defect in a rule, and shall not form part of 10
the record before the court in any judicial proceeding con-11
cerning a rule except for purposes of determining whether 12
or not the rule is in effect. 13
‘‘§ 806. Exemption for monetary policy 14
‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall apply to rules that con-15
cern monetary policy proposed or implemented by the 16
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the 17
Federal Open Market Committee. 18
‘‘§ 807. Effective date of certain rules 19
‘‘Notwithstanding section 801— 20
‘‘(1) any rule that establishes, modifies, opens, 21
closes, or conducts a regulatory program for a com-22
mercial, recreational, or subsistence activity related 23
to hunting, fishing, or camping; or 24
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HR 277 PCS
‘‘(2) any rule other than a major rule which an 1
agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the 2
finding and a brief statement of reasons therefore in 3
the rule issued) that notice and public procedure 4
thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary 5
to the public interest, 6
shall take effect at such time as the Federal agency pro-7
mulgating the rule determines. 8
‘‘§ 808. Review of rules currently in effect 9
‘‘(a) A
NNUALREVIEW.—Beginning on the date that 10
is 6 months after the date of enactment of this section 11
and annually thereafter for the 4 years following, each 12
agency shall designate not less than 20 percent of eligible 13
rules made by that agency for review, and shall submit 14
a report including each such eligible rule in the same man-15
ner as a report under section 801(a)(1). Section 801, sec-16
tion 802, and section 803 shall apply to each such rule, 17
subject to subsection (c) of this section. No eligible rule 18
previously designated may be designated again. 19
‘‘(b) S
UNSET FOR ELIGIBLERULESNOTEX-20
TENDED.—Beginning after the date that is 5 years after 21
the date of enactment of this section, if Congress has not 22
enacted a joint resolution of approval for that eligible rule, 23
that eligible rule shall not continue in effect. 24
‘‘(c) A
PPROVAL OFRULES.— 25
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HR 277 PCS
‘‘(1) Unless Congress approves all eligible rules 1
designated by executive agencies for review within 2
90 days of designation, they shall have no effect. 3
‘‘(2) A single joint resolution of approval shall 4
apply to all eligible rules in a report designated for 5
a year as follows: ‘That Congress approves the rules 6
submitted by thelll for the year lll.’ (The 7
blank spaces being appropriately filled in). 8
‘‘(3) A member of either House may move that 9
a separate joint resolution be required for a specified 10
rule. 11
‘‘(d) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘eligible 12
rule’ means a rule that is in effect as of the date of enact-13
ment of this section.’’. 14
SEC. 4. BUDGETARY EFFECTS OF RULES SUBJECT TO SEC-15
TION 802 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE. 16
Section 257(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emer-17
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 907(b)(2)) 18
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-19
paragraph: 20
‘‘(E) B
UDGETARY EFFECTS OF RULES 21
SUBJECT TO SECTION 802 OF TITLE 5 , UNITED 22
STATES CODE.—Any rule subject to the con-23
gressional approval procedure set forth in sec-24
tion 802 of chapter 8 of title 5, United States 25
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HR 277 PCS
Code, affecting budget authority, outlays, or re-1
ceipts shall be assumed to be effective unless it 2
is not approved in accordance with such sec-3
tion.’’. 4
SEC. 5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY OF 5
RULES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 7
United States shall conduct a study to determine, as of 8
the date of the enactment of this Act— 9
(1) how many rules (as such term is defined in 10
section 804 of title 5, United States Code) were in 11
effect; 12
(2) how many major rules (as such term is de-13
fined in section 804 of title 5, United States Code) 14
were in effect; and 15
(3) the total estimated economic cost imposed 16
by all such rules. 17
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 18
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 19
the United States shall submit a report (and publish the 20
report on the website of the Comptroller General) to Con-21
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HR 277 PCS
gress that contains the findings of the study conducted 1
under subsection (a). 2
Passed the House of Representatives June 14, 2023.
Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON,
Clerk.
By L
ISAP. GRANT,
Deputy Clerk.
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103
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 277
AN ACT
To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code,
to provide that major rules of the executive
branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint
resolution of approval is enacted into law.
J
UNE
21, 2023
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
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