Political Quotes

“My amendment strikes section 12 of the bill. Section 12 would require an agency to perform a retrospective analysis of any existing rule any time a committee chairman or ranking member asked for it. Under this section, any one of nearly 100 Members of Congress could tie an agency up in knots, forcing review after review of any existing rule. I asked the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service to analyze the constitutionality of this section. CRS provided my staff with a memo that found that section 12 of H.R. 50 raises a serious constitutional question. CRS evaluated the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in INS v. Chadha. In that case, the Court held that Congress can exercise its legislative authority only through bicameral passage of legislation that is then presented to the President. CRS evaluated whether giving individual Members of Congress the authority to demand agency action would violate that requirement. Here is what CRS found: ``It could be argued that imbuing certain Members with the authority to demand that an agency prepare a report under section 12 is an action of sufficient legislative character and effect as to trigger the bicameralism and presentment requirements of article I.'' CRS also found there is a ``tenable argument that the provisions of section 12 raise constitutional concerns of the magnitude addressed in Chadha.'' Congress certainly has a legitimate interest in conducting oversight of agency actions.…”