Goodlatte, Marino and Ratcliffe Introduce Legislation to Rein in Runaway Administrative State

Washington, D.C.— Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee Chairman Tom Marino (R-Pa.), and House Judiciary Committee member John L. Ratcliffe (R-Texas) today introduced the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (H.R. 4768) to restore accountability to the regulatory process. The bill would empower the courts, not agencies, to interpret all questions of law, including both statutes and regulations. Members of the House Judiciary Committee were joined by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who introduced an identical bill in the United States Senate. Below are statements from the authors of the Separation of Powers Restoration Act on the introduction of the bill. Chairman Goodlatte: "Today's federal administrative state is an institution unforeseen by the Framers of our Constitution, that is rapidly mushrooming out of control. This overgrown bureaucracy is tipping our system of checks and balances away from the legislative and judicial branches, and towards a stronger, emboldened, and overreaching executive. The precedent set by Chevron has been a catalyst for a runaway administrative state, and we are undertaking a strong, bicameral effort to bring balance back to our federal government." Subcommittee Chairman Marino: “I am grateful to my colleagues in the House and Senate for their efforts on this bill.  Our Founders envisioned three separate but equal branches of government.  But for too long, we in Congress have skirted our duties by drafting weak legislation, that empowers rather than constrains the ever growing administrative state.  The Supreme Court’s Chevron decision only worsened this problem, as the Court abdicated its own role as the ultimate judge of the law. Today’s bill curtails the overreach of executive agencies at the source of their power, the Administrative Procedure Act, and begins the important steps of returning control of the government to the people, through Congress.” Congressman Ratcliffe: “The endless stream of rules and regulations being rolled out by federal agencies has real consequences for real people all across the country. Unelected federal bureaucrats are not accountable to the American people and can’t be voted out of office; yet, they wield immense power to impose regulations that have the force of law. I’m grateful to be a part of the solution today as we introduce this important legislation to rein in an administrative state that has been allowed to wield immense lawmaking power outside of the will of the Constitution.” Background: Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chevron, there has been increasing confusion in the courts, Congress, the legal bar, and legal academia on the issues of whether, when and how courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of the statutes they administer. Thursday’s event will focus on these issues, and specific ideas for solutions to the confusion spawned by Chevron. This week, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held a hearing entitled, “The Chevron Doctrine: Constitutional and Statutory Questions in Judicial Deference to Agencies.” The hearing will examine how much leeway bureaucrats currently have to interpret laws already passed by Congress since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837 (1984).