Top House Republicans sent letters to federal agencies seeking information about how the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Chevron doctrine will affect their rulemaking.
House Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) asked agencies including the Energy Department for details related to the “limits placed on its regulatory authority” by the Supreme Court decision last month.
Republicans cheered the end of the Chevron doctrine, under which courts deferred to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous laws. Democrats said it would kneecap both the administration and Congress, while giving more power to conservative judges.
BGOV OnPoint: Chevron’s End Means New Era of Rulemaking
Rodgers and Comer suggested that some Biden administration actions, such as the president’s environmental efforts, are now more vulnerable to legal challenges due to the decision. Science Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) joined Rodgers and Comer in sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is sure to be a target of House Republicans who oppose Biden’s green agenda.
Republicans have used their House majority over the last year and a half to hammer the administration’s rules on everything from electric vehicles to financial regulation, using the Congressional Review Act to try to overturn Biden administration rules.
They view the June 28 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned Chevron, as bolstering their current legal challenges as well as giving them another tool to counter Biden’s regulatory actions.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement at the time of the ruling that it “restores the balance outlined by the Founders in our Constitution and represents the beginning of the end of the administrative state.”
“House Republican committees will be conducting oversight to ensure agencies follow the Court’s ruling and no longer engage in excessive interpretative license in administering statutes under their jurisdiction,” he added.
Congress is also beginning to look at its own operations in a post-Chevron world, including whether it has the expertise or staff to write more complex regulatory legislation that may be needed.
The House Administration Committee has scheduled a July 23 hearing with witnesses from groups including the American Enterprise Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, and Heritage Foundation.
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