II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 973
To establish a task force for regulatory oversight and review.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH12, 2025
Mr. L
EEintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To establish a task force for regulatory oversight and review.
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 ‘‘Locating the Ineffi-4
ciencies of Bureaucratic Edicts to Reform And Transform 5
the Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘LIBERATE Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. REGULATORY OVERSIGHT AND REVIEW TASK 7
FORCE. 8
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a task 9
force to be known as the ‘‘Regulatory Oversight and Re-10
view Task Force’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task 11
Force’’). 12
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(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Task Force shall be 2
composed of— 3
(A) the Director of the Office of Manage-4
ment and Budget, who shall serve as the Chair-5
person of the Task Force; 6
(B) 1 representative of the Office of Infor-7
mation and Regulatory Affairs; and 8
(C) 16 individuals from the private sector, 9
of whom— 10
(i) 4 shall be appointed by the major-11
ity leader of the Senate; 12
(ii) 4 shall be appointed by the minor-13
ity leader of the Senate; 14
(iii) 4 shall be appointed by the 15
Speaker of the House of Representatives; 16
and 17
(iv) 4 shall be appointed by the minor-18
ity leader of the House of Representatives. 19
(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS OF PRIVATE SECTOR MEM -20
BERS.— 21
(A) E
XPERTISE.—Each member of the 22
Task Force appointed under paragraph (1)(C) 23
shall be an individual with expertise in Federal 24
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regulatory policy, Federal regulatory compli-1
ance, economics, law, or business management. 2
(B) S
MALL BUSINESS CONCERNS .—Not 3
fewer than 2 of the members of the Task Force 4
appointed under each clause of paragraph 5
(1)(C) shall be representatives of a small busi-6
ness concern, as defined in section 3 of the 7
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 8
(C) P
OLITICAL AFFILIATION.—Not more 9
than 2 of the members of the Task Force ap-10
pointed under each clause of paragraph (1)(C) 11
may be affiliated with the same political party. 12
(3) A
PPOINTMENT.—Not later than 30 days 13
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi-14
dent shall appoint each member of the Task Force 15
under paragraph (1)(C). 16
(c) C
ONSULTATIONWITHGAO.—In carrying out its 17
functions under this section, the Task Force shall consult 18
with the Government Accountability Office. 19
(d) N
OCOMPENSATION.—A member of the Task 20
Force may not receive any compensation for serving on 21
the Task Force. 22
(e) E
VALUATION OF REGULATIONS.—The Task 23
Force shall evaluate, and provide recommendations for 24
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modification, consolidation, harmonization, or repeal of, 1
Federal regulations that— 2
(1) exclude or otherwise inhibit competition, 3
causing industries of the United States to be less 4
competitive with global competitors; 5
(2) create barriers to entry for United States 6
businesses, including entrepreneurs and startups; 7
(3) increase the operating costs for domestic 8
manufacturing; 9
(4) impose substantial compliance costs and 10
other burdens on industries of the United States, 11
making those industries less competitive with global 12
competitors; 13
(5) impose burdensome and lengthy permitting 14
processes and requirements; 15
(6) impact energy production by United States 16
businesses and make the United States dependent 17
on foreign countries for energy supply; 18
(7) restrict domestic mining, including the min-19
ing of critical minerals; or 20
(8) inhibit capital formation in the economy of 21
the United States. 22
(f) W
EBSITE.—The Task Force shall establish and 23
maintain a user-friendly, public-facing website to be— 24
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(1) a portal for the submission of written rec-1
ommendations under subsection (h); and 2
(2) a gateway for reports and key information. 3
(g) D
UTY OFFEDERALAGENCIES.—Upon request of 4
the Task Force, a Federal agency shall provide applicable 5
documents and information to help the Task Force carry 6
out its functions under this section. 7
(h) W
RITTENRECOMMENDATIONS .— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.— Not later than 15 days 9
after the first meeting of the Task Force, the Task 10
Force shall initiate a process to solicit and collect 11
written recommendations regarding regulations de-12
scribed in subsection (e) from the general public, in-13
terested parties, Federal agencies, and other relevant 14
entities. 15
(2) M
ANNER OF SUBMISSION .—The Task Force 16
shall allow written recommendations under para-17
graph (1) to be submitted through— 18
(A) the website of the Task Force; 19
(B) regulations.gov; 20
(C) the mail; or 21
(D) other appropriate written means. 22
(3) P
UBLICATION.—The Task Force shall pub-23
lish each recommendation submitted under para-24
graph (1)— 25
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(A) in the Federal Register; 1
(B) on the website of the Task Force; and 2
(C) on regulations.gov. 3
(4) P
UBLIC OUTREACH.—In addition to solic-4
iting and collecting written recommendations under 5
paragraph (1), the Task Force shall conduct public 6
outreach and convene focus groups in geographically 7
diverse areas throughout the United States to solicit 8
feedback and public comments regarding regulations 9
described in subsection (e). 10
(5) R
EVIEW AND CONSIDERATION .—The Task 11
Force shall review the information received under 12
paragraphs (1) and (4) and consider including that 13
information in the reports and special message re-14
quired under subsections (i) and (j), respectively. 15
(i) R
EPORTS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Task Force shall sub-17
mit quarterly and annual reports to Congress on the 18
findings of the Task Force under this section. 19
(2) C
ONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 20
paragraph (1) shall— 21
(A) analyze the Federal regulations identi-22
fied in accordance with subsection (e); and 23
(B) provide recommendations for modifica-24
tions, consolidation, harmonization, and repeal 25
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of the regulations described in subparagraph 1
(A) of this paragraph. 2
(j) S
PECIALMESSAGE TOCONGRESS.— 3
(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 4
‘‘covered resolution’’ means a joint resolution— 5
(A) the matter after the resolving clause of 6
which contains only— 7
(i) a list of some or all of the regula-8
tions that were recommended for repeal in 9
a special message submitted to Congress 10
under paragraph (2); and 11
(ii) a provision that immediately re-12
peals the listed regulations upon enactment 13
of the joint resolution; and 14
(B) upon which Congress completes action 15
before the end of the first period of 60 calendar 16
days after the date on which the special mes-17
sage described in subparagraph (A)(i) of this 18
paragraph is received by Congress. 19
(2) S
UBMISSION.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the first 21
day on which both Houses of Congress are in 22
session after May 1 of each year, the Director 23
of the Office of Management and Budget shall 24
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submit to Congress, on behalf of the Task 1
Force, a special message that— 2
(i) details each regulation that the 3
Task Force recommends for repeal; and 4
(ii) explains why each regulation 5
should be repealed. 6
(B) D
ELIVERY TO HOUSE AND SENATE ; 7
PRINTING.—Each special message submitted 8
under subparagraph (A) shall be— 9
(i) delivered to the Clerk of the House 10
of Representatives and the Secretary of the 11
Senate; and 12
(ii) printed in the Congressional 13
Record. 14
(3) P
ROCEDURE IN HOUSE AND SENATE .— 15
(A) R
EFERRAL.—A covered resolution 16
shall be referred to the appropriate committee 17
of the House of Representatives or the Senate, 18
as the case may be. 19
(B) D
ISCHARGE OF COMMITTEE .—If the 20
committee to which a covered resolution has 21
been referred has not reported the resolution at 22
the end of 25 calendar days after the introduc-23
tion of the resolution— 24
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(i) the committee shall be discharged 1
from further consideration of the resolu-2
tion; and 3
(ii) the resolution shall be placed on 4
the appropriate calendar. 5
(4) F
LOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE .— 6
(A) M
OTION TO PROCEED.— 7
(i) I
N GENERAL.—When the com-8
mittee of the House of Representatives has 9
reported, or has been discharged from fur-10
ther consideration of, a covered resolution, 11
it shall at any time thereafter be in order 12
(even though a previous motion to the 13
same effect has been disagreed to) to move 14
to proceed to the consideration of the reso-15
lution. 16
(ii) P
RIVILEGE.—A motion described 17
in clause (i) shall be highly privileged and 18
not debatable. 19
(iii) N
O AMENDMENT OR MOTION TO 20
RECONSIDER.—An amendment to a motion 21
described in clause (i) shall not be in 22
order, nor shall it be in order to move to 23
reconsider the vote by which the motion is 24
agreed to or disagreed to. 25
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(B) DEBATE.— 1
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Debate in the 2
House of Representatives on a covered res-3
olution shall be limited to not more than 2 4
hours, which shall be divided equally be-5
tween those favoring and those opposing 6
the resolution. 7
(ii) N
O MOTION TO RECONSIDER .—It 8
shall not be in order in the House of Rep-9
resentatives to move to reconsider the vote 10
by which a covered resolution is agreed to 11
or disagreed to. 12
(C) N
O MOTION TO POSTPONE CONSIDER -13
ATION OR PROCEED TO CONSIDERATION OF 14
OTHER BUSINESS.—In the House of Represent-15
atives, motions to postpone, made with respect 16
to the consideration of a covered resolution, and 17
motions to proceed to the consideration of other 18
business, shall not be in order. 19
(D) A
PPEALS FROM DECISIONS OF 20
CHAIR.—An appeal from the decision of the 21
Chair relating to the application of the Rules of 22
the House of Representatives to the procedure 23
relating to a covered resolution shall be decided 24
without debate. 25
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(5) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE .— 1
(A) M
OTION TO PROCEED.— 2
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 3
Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the 4
Senate, when the committee of the Senate 5
to which a covered resolution is referred 6
has reported, or has been discharged from 7
further consideration of, a covered resolu-8
tion, it shall at any time thereafter be in 9
order (even though a previous motion to 10
the same effect has been disagreed to) to 11
move to proceed to the consideration of the 12
resolution and all points of order against 13
the covered resolution are waived. 14
(ii) D
IVISION OF TIME.—A motion to 15
proceed described in clause (i) is subject to 16
4 hours of debate divided equally between 17
those favoring and those opposing the cov-18
ered resolution. 19
(iii) N
O AMENDMENT OR MOTION TO 20
POSTPONE OR PROCEED TO OTHER BUSI -21
NESS.—A motion to proceed described in 22
clause (i) is not subject to— 23
(I) amendment; 24
(II) a motion to postpone; or 25
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(III) a motion to proceed to the 1
consideration of other business. 2
(B) F
LOOR CONSIDERATION.— 3
(i) G
ENERAL.—In the Senate, a cov-4
ered resolution shall be subject to 10 hours 5
of debate divided equally between those fa-6
voring and those opposing the covered res-7
olution. 8
(ii) A
MENDMENTS.—In the Senate, no 9
amendment to a covered resolution shall be 10
in order, except an amendment that strikes 11
from or adds to the list required under 12
paragraph (1)(A)(i) a regulation rec-13
ommended for repeal by the Task Force. 14
(iii) M
OTIONS AND APPEALS .—In the 15
Senate, a motion to reconsider a vote on 16
final passage of a covered resolution shall 17
not be in order, and points of order, in-18
cluding questions of relevancy, and appeals 19
from the decision of the Presiding Officer, 20
shall be decided without debate. 21
(6) R
ECEIPT OF RESOLUTION FROM OTHER 22
HOUSE.—If, before passing a covered resolution, one 23
House receives from the other a covered resolution— 24
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(A) the covered resolution of the other 1
House shall not be referred to a committee and 2
shall be deemed to have been discharged from 3
committee on the day on which it is received; 4
and 5
(B) the procedures set forth in paragraph 6
(4) or (5), as applicable, shall apply in the re-7
ceiving House to the covered resolution received 8
from the other House to the same extent as 9
those procedures apply to a covered resolution 10
of the receiving House. 11
(7) R
ULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA -12
TIVES AND THE SENATE .—Paragraphs (2) through 13
(6) are enacted by Congress— 14
(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 15
of the House of Representatives and the Sen-16
ate, respectively, and as such are deemed a part 17
of the rules of each House, respectively, but ap-18
plicable only with respect to the procedures to 19
be followed in the House in the case of covered 20
resolutions, and supersede other rules only to 21
the extent that they are inconsistent with such 22
other rules; and 23
(B) with full recognition of the constitu-24
tional right of either House to change the rules 25
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(so far as relating to the procedure of that 1
House) at any time, in the same manner, and 2
to the same extent as in the case of any other 3
rule of that House. 4
(k) F
UNDING.— 5
(1) N
O ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS AUTHORIZED .— 6
No additional amounts are authorized to be appro-7
priated to carry out this section. 8
(2) O
THER FUNDING.—The Task Force shall 9
use amounts otherwise available to the Office of 10
Management and Budget to carry out this section. 11
Æ
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