How The REINS Act Can Rein In The Deep State

I often tell people that accountability is the beginning of true progress.

None of our politicians are truly held to account, but at least publicly facing representatives, can, at least in theory, be booted from office through the power of the ballot. …

No such controls currently exist for the droves of unelected bureaucrats increasingly tasked with crafting policy and dictating the direction of the country.

Unelected bureaucrats are wholly unaccountable, they fear neither the power of the ballot nor the extent of the law—most people don’t even know that it is this small oligarchy, often hidden in the shadows, that steers America and controls her fate.

While term limits and strict controls on the administrative state’s power have yet to be seen, one proposed measure aims to mitigate the destructive and unaccountable power of deep-state actors.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), recently introduced a bill that would check the power of the administrative state by requiring Congress to put its stamp of approval on any measure adopted by executive-branch agencies with economic implications of $100 million or more.

As you can expect, support for this policy occurred along bifurcated lines, with left-leaning Americans claiming that the REINS Act is simply a way for the GOP to grab power, while conservative Americans argued that it would simply rein in a completely out-of-control government:

"[Republicans] have employed the Congressional Review Act and other provisions of federal law to target rules written by administration agencies and hold votes on hot-button issues, sometimes peeling off centrist Democrats…"

Passing the REINS Act will make them even stronger. https://t.co/SSTAMS9I6U

— Adam Gibbs 🇺🇸 (@AdamGibbsWI) April 15, 2023

https://twitter.com/TheBoz26510221/status/1646979425127342081

Washington Examiner explains:

The REINS Act has nearly 200 co-sponsors in the current Congress. It offers a significant step toward proper oversight and constitutional government.

Looking back at America’s history, the administrative state now echoes many of the grievances put forward by the signers of the Declaration of Independence against the king of the United Kingdom.

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance,” declares our founding document.

 

Stop the RESTRICT Act, Defund the FBI, Pass the REINS Act, pass Audit the Fed bill, Investigate the increase food processing facility and farm fires. Audit Ukraine spending. Do whatever you can to protect the southern border. Pass a bill to ban ESG and Fed Digital currency

— Major General Nathanael Greene (America First) (@NGreene76) April 14, 2023

1. Empower American workers and families through pro-growth de-regulation with the REINS Act and H.R 1 https://t.co/QZ2Vmd8xDw

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) April 13, 2023

National Review writes that the REINS Act should be on President Trump’s desk on the very first day of his second term:

The REINS Act would begin Congress’s retrieval from the executive branch of responsibilities the Founders vested in the legislative branch.

The act would sharply slow the growth of regulations that are suffocating economic growth. REINS would require Congress to vote on — to have its fingerprints on — all “major” regulations, understood as those with an annual economic impact of at least $100 million.

Congress would thus take responsibility for, and be held accountable for, the substance that executive agencies’ rule making pours into the almost-empty vessels that Congress imprecisely calls “laws.”