For the past eight years, the Obama administration has shown it prefers executive overreach and regulatory schemes to bipartisanship and compromise. Time and again, they have proven their rulemaking is anything but responsible through measures including:
- An extreme and partisan overtime rule that will hurt those who need help the most;
- K-12 regulations that completely ignore the letter and intent of the law at the expense of students, schools, and taxpayers; and
- A misguided rule that will make it more difficult for hardworking men and women to plan and save for retirement.
With that track record, it’s no wonder many are concerned about what last-minute rules and regulations the administration has planned now that the end is in sight. That’s why the House today will vote on legislation to help solve the problem of “midnight regulations,” costly and politically-driven rules rushed into place during the final months of an administration.
The Midnight Rules Relief Act (H.R. 5982) will ensure the incoming Congress is able to respond to any harmful rules the administration may issue as it heads out the door. It’s also just one way House Republicans are working to hold the administration accountable for its end-of-term agenda.
In September, leaders of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce wrote to both the Department of Education and the Department of Labor to demand details on regulatory and staffing changes planned for the final months of the administration. As Chairman John Kline (R-MN) explained at the time:
For more than seven years, the administration’s regulatory onslaught has hurt students, families, and workers. The American people have had enough. That’s why we are working to hold the administration accountable for its actions and demand the transparency that the public deserves. We will do everything we can to ensure these agencies do not spend the next few months working behind closed doors to cement the administration’s extreme, partisan agenda.
Both departments have yet to provide a substantive response, but what can you expect from an administration that has always been averse to accountability? Apparently, not a lot. And that’s just not good enough.
Today, the House Republicans will once again demand from the administration the accountability the American people deserve.
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