The House Judiciary Committee Tuesday considered a measure to create an office within Congress to review federal regulations, LEGI-SLATE News Service reported.
Democrats objected to the bill as a "big government" proposal and a waste of money, while Judiciary Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairman George Gekas, R-Pa., defended the bill by saying it would help Congress keep tabs on "costly" and "aggravating" regulations issued by the executive branch.
Gekas has estimated that federal regulations cost U.S. taxpayers "at least $279 billion" each year, and has explained that the government "spends another $17 billion or so on promulgating new regulations and enforcing existing ones each year."
The office would be known as the Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis, or CORA. Gekas said CORA is intended to be part of an effort to expand the Congressional Review Act. "This will put the agencies on permanent notice that their rules and regulations must adhere tightly to statute and congressional intent," he said in a written statement.
Democrats pointed out, however, that since the CRA was enacted, no legislation has come to the floor to halt any of the major or minor regulations issued by the executive branch.
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