Witnesses Call on Congress to Establish Regulatory Office in Wake of Loper

Congress must adjust to the demise of the Chevron Deference doctrine by drastically improving its regulatory expertise, witnesses told a House Committee on July 23.

“Congress must reclaim its lawmaking and rule-writing authority from the executive branch by marshaling appropriate resources and full-time personnel to perform regulatory oversight, including cost-benefit analysis and disclosures often neglected by the executive branch, sometimes in violation of law,” Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., a fellow in regulatory studies at the Competitiveness Enterprise Institute, told the House Administration Committee at a hearing on the impact of the Supreme Court’s Loper decision.

While other witnesses said that the decision will provide federal judges with more power, Crews emphasized that Congress must step up and write laws with much more specificity or risk having them interpreted by courts  without the guidance of agencies.