House Passes Bill To Grant Congress Veto Power Over White House Rules

[onehandle]

WASHINGTON -- A bill that would give the controlling party of either chamber of Congress veto power over any major new regulation passed the House of Representatives Wednesday. The measure, dubbed the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny -- or REINS -- Act, would require Congress to sign off on any new rule estimated to cost more than $100 million. It passed 241 to 184, with a handful of Democrats crossing the aisle.

The REINS Act is only the latest of a slew of bills aimed at peeling back regulations, which House Republicans have pushed for in the name of cutting red tape and freeing up businesses. The GOP sees the regulations as overbearing rulemaking by unelected bureaucrats.

"Who do the regulators answer to? No one," said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) in debate on the House floor. "When the regulators go to work everyday, like most people go to work, their work assignment's a little different," Poe said. "In my opinion, they sit around a big oak table, sipping their lattes. They have out their iPads and their computers, and they decide, 'Who shall we regulate today?' And they write a regulation and send it out to the masses and make us deal with the cost to that."

Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), argued that if Congress can stop rules in their tracks, businesses will flourish. "Poll after poll of small business owners, of medium-sized business owners -- they will show you and tell you that major regulations are holding back their expansion and the ability of them to hire more workers," Quayle said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/house-passes-bill-to-grant-congress-veto-power_n_1135030.html

[AnOhioan]

1. No chance of it passing the Senate.....let the House Repubs spin their wheels.

[notadmblnd]

5. Even if it passed in the Senate, wouldn't the President still have veto power over it? Then congress

could override that veto, no?

But in my opinion small businesses are whining about State regulations not Federal regulations. Regulations like having to keep your restaurant clean is a state rule just as the closing time of establishments that sell liquor or States that have passed no smoking regulations.

People aren't blaming the right government entity for many of the regulations they claim prevent them from being more profitable, and noone in the media points this out.

[Lasher]

8. But Republicans think the Unitary Executive has to be a fellow Republican.

Executive branch power needs to be restrained under a Democratic Presidency, you see.

[MADem]

12. Well, Congress couldn't override the veto, because the measure would not have been signed into law.

They'd have to start all over again!

On EDIT: I see what you mean--override the President's veto with an overwhelming majority to enact the law.

I don't know if they'd be able to muster a sufficiency of votes to do that--not this Congress, anyway.

[Ship of Fools]

18. That's how the country will implode -- an endless loop!

Congress passes veto bill. President vetoes veto bill. Congress scratches head,
passes veto bill again ...

[a simple pattern]

22. If they entered that loop

they might get their approval rating over 9%

[Amonester]

2. Yeah! Like if they wanna destroy the planet even more to make a buck...

why should anyone even try to stop them.

Everybody knows they own the planet, so they can do whatever they want without any restrictions.

[maleficentia]

3. Wow

Just testing out reply.
But what a crock. "... sipping their lattes. " Someone should regulate assholes.

[midnight]

4. Boy when they get tired of taking care of themselves, maybe they can turn their attention to the

rest of the country.

[Fearless]

6. GOP: "So we want to help Americans... but only if it's cheap and convienent for business."

[krispos42]

7. "overbearing rulemaking by unelected bureaucrats"

As opposed to the reckless deregulation by unelected lobbyists?




If Congresscritter Poe's opinion of how regulators craft regulations is that fucking ignorant, then Critter Poe only has himself to blame. There are a multitude of avenues available to him to actually find out how this shit works, including calling up a bureaucrat and ASKING.

[Hutzpa]

9. Some of these assholes really have no business being in Congress

:shakeshead:

[oldhippydude]

14. what do you mean

some?...

[Hutzpa]

16. lol

I know, we all should just take a mop and bucket to Congress.

[Rex]

10. With a 9% approval rating, you would think

they would actually care about how much people hate their guts and think they are all worthless squatters.

Congress is broken and no one seems to care enough to fix the problem.

[applegrove]

11. They have to try and pass it now. Seems futile but

I think the GOP and their ceo overlords know the jig is almost up.

[oldhippydude]

15. when you have

OWS and tea party people starting to see eye to eye.. you bet the jig is up.. i have thought all along this G.O.P resisitance, has been as much about sacking and bunring, in concert with thier coporate overlords.. as it has been "republican values".. when "Obamacare" inevatibly morphs toward single payer, more and more people will begin to see the corporate dominance.. a tipping point will have been reached, and change will be inevitable

the GOP will have no where to go, when people catch on to the magnitude of thier lies..

[meow2u3]

13. To make a long story short: Republicans are tyrants without the least respect for the law

It's a bill designed to give repukes dictatorial power, no matter who's President. They've been fighting tooth and nail against the Constitution and the rule of law, all while giving lip service to the aforementioned, and they won't rest until the the checks and balances are destroyed.

These teahadists are dangerous excuses for lawmakers who, in some respects, show a pattern of behavior more befitting of serial killers and pedophiles than the "honorable" members of Congress they profess to be, in that they're relentless and apparently compulsive in their pursuit for absolute power to the point that they won't stop destroying people's lives and shredding the Constitution until someone else stops them.

[ezmerelda39]

17. When the regulators regulate

around a table with their coffee the House is sitting on its duff (where their collective brains reside) with their coffee trying very hard to come up with new ways to enrich the 1% while hoping to enrich themselves to the point where they too can be a part of the 1%

[JoePhilly]

19. This week they plan to pass a bill making Apple Pie the official American Pie.

[The Wizard]

20. Thanks for clearing up that gray area

Any meaningful legislation is usually communist inspired.

[JoePhilly]

21. I hear they also plan to pass a bill mandating that the President wear boxer shorts.

[deacon]

23. lol!

[Islandlife]

24. White house rules are not the same as laws

They are not open for debate. Is this the end of the presidential privilege of oligarchy?

[amandabeech]

25. Actually, I believe that this latest Repuke outrage should be challenged under the separation of

powers clause in the Constitution.

The President executes the laws, and that often means issuing implementing rules and regs. The Congress can only enact laws.

It's been a long time since I was in law school, and I cannot off the top of my head cite a case, but I can't see the courts going along with this.

[indepat]

26. I can see the Supreme Court voting 5-4 on any issue that would benefit

large corporations to the detriment of we the people, no matter how foreign and inimical that ruling would be to the letter and intent of the Constitution or existing law, the rule of law, precedent, reason, or common sense.

[amandabeech]

27. Ask me after the decision on the health care measure. nt