Thornberry Sets Aim At Burdensome Regulations

Votes in support of REINS Act of 2017 Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) voted in support of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2017 H.R. 26 which will require any executive branch rule or regulation with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more designated by the Office of Management and Budget as a major rule to come before Congress for an up-or-down vote before being enacted. The bill passed the House by a vote of 237-187. Congressional Republicans will have a good opportunity to work with the incoming Administration to roll back the blizzard of regulations that has come out of Washington over the past eight years. The REINS Act is the first of several planned bills that will make the regulatory process more transparent and accountable and repeal or correct some of the most harmful regulations Thornberry said. While Congress is granted all legislative powers under Article I Section 1 of the United States Constitution the executive branch has increasingly circumvented Congress to enact its agenda through federal regulations. There were more than 3000 rules and regulations issued in 2015. Of those 76 were major rules that would have required Congress to take an up-or-down vote under the REINS Act. A previous version of the bill passed the House in July 2015 but was not brought up for a vote in the Senate. Thornberry is an original cosponsor of the legislation. You can download video interview footage for news purposes by clicking here.