Political Quotes

“The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, or SOPRA, is great legislation that I fully support. My amendment is simple and seeks to clarify that de novo judicial review applies to agency guidance as well as to agency rules and congressional statutes. Specifically, my amendment explicitly states that interpretive rules, general statements of policy, and all other agency guidance are subject to de novo judicial review. Unlike rules, guidance is undefined in the APA's definition section. Agency guidance consists of interpretive rules that explain how agencies interpret the statutes and rules that they administer and general statements of policy that prospectively advise how agencies may choose to exercise their authority. Guidance is not subject to the APA's notice and comment requirements and, at least not officially, does not have the force of law or at least shouldn't have the force of law. Yet, we have seen a growing trend of administrative agencies attempting to use guidance to have the force of law while at the same time avoiding even the APA process. For example, in my private capacity before being elected to Congress, I was part of an effort to push back on the Department of Agriculture's attempt to mandate RFID ear tags on the cattle and bison of our Nation's ranchers. The agency tried to force this on the agriculture community through a two-page guidance document that was posted to the USDA website.…”