GOP House passes bill to undo last-minute Obama regulations

The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to pass a bill that would enable Congress to overturn executive branch regulations finalized in the last 60 legislative days of an outgoing presidential administration.

The measure, called the “Midnight Rules Relief Act,” would allow Congress to undo in a single vote the last-minute regulations of President Obama and future presidents.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, and was one of the first bills passed by the new 115th Congress.

“This is about accountability, transparency and ensuring job creators aren’t being crushed by droves of new regulations just before a President leaves office,” Issa said in a statement upon passage of the bill.  

Rep. John Conyers Jr, D-Michigan, had a starker view of the bill. 

“I’m surprised that without hearings, without opportunity for amendment, we are now considering a measure that has this much opposition,” Conyers said, according to The Hill.

According to a press release issued by Issa’s office, the bill would amend the Congressional Review Act to enable Congress to “stem a growing trend by Presidents, of both parties, to use their last few months in office to rush in costly, expensive or controversial new regulations.”