Jackson Purchase News

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the Senate floor today, emphasizing the role of Congress in lawmaking and critiquing what he described as excessive regulatory interpretation by the executive branch. He highlighted the Congressional Review Act (CRA) as a tool to curb this trend.

McConnell stated, "Congress writes the nation’s laws, and the executive branch sticks to enforcing them. That idea is not new. It’s written plainly into our Article One powers in the Constitution." He noted that recent judicial actions have reinforced these boundaries but argued that further efforts are needed to limit bureaucratic overreach.

The CRA has been used effectively by Senate Republicans, according to McConnell, particularly during 2017-2018 when they repealed numerous regulations from the Obama Administration. These actions included ending a coal-mining rule affecting workers in Kentucky and reducing federal control over land management.

He remarked on past successes: "Between 2017 and 2018, Republicans used the CRA sixteen times to impose an ambitious regulatory housecleaning that gave farmers and miners, landowners and job creators, small businesses and builders the certainty and confidence to stay producing on American soil."

McConnell criticized President Biden's administration for reinstating what he termed "the Obama Administration’s regulatory regime," citing policies on student loans, energy, and property rights. He claimed that President Biden's agenda has resulted in significant regulatory costs.

"On day one," McConnell said, "President Biden signed an Executive order that began tearing down the regulatory certainty that Republicans restored." He added that current regulations under Biden have reached high levels of complexity as measured by pages in the Federal Register.

Concluding his remarks, McConnell asserted that recent electoral outcomes provide Republicans with a mandate to counteract these regulations: "Two weeks ago, the American people gave Republicans a legitimate, crystal clear mandate. And come January, we ought to use it to hit the brakes on runaway regulation."