If this holds up, a lot of the work that’s been going on in DC in the past couple of months will be for naught:
Last May, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten instructed federal agency heads to make sure any new regulations were finalized by Nov. 1. The memo didn’t spell it out, but the thinking behind the directive was obvious. As Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute put it: “We’re not going to make the same mistakes the Clinton administration did.â€
President Bill Clinton finalized regulations within 60 days of the 2001 inauguration, meaning Bush could come in and easily reverse them.
It could take Obama years to undo climate rules finalized more than 60 days before he takes office — the advantage the White House sought by getting them done by Nov. 1. But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996.
The law contains a clause determining that any regulation finalized within 60 days of congressional adjournment — Oct. 3, in this case — is considered to have been legally finalized on Jan. 15, 2009. The new Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate.
Ouch. Bonus point? The CRA was a product of the Contract With America.
(For those of you interested in the mechanics, this appears to be a good summary.)
Mike@Blueweeds
A fascinating example of over-produced legislators getting caught up in their own evil genius.
The cynic in me will wait and see what elaboratly evil scheme the repubs devise to undo the unintended consequences of their last evil scheme, which was devised to undo the unintended consequences of the elaboratly evil scheme before that … and so on and so forth.
MB
I’m quite honestly surprised by a number of things here. First, how did the the White House miss this? Second, the CRA, as I’m understanding it, seems like a really really bad idea. It introduces an enormous amount of uncertainty and ability to game the system (you know, outside of the usual ways). Third – man, talk about an early year lobbyists’ bonanza.