Congressional Review Act CRA

After the Supreme Court struck down the legislative veto in INS v. Chadha in 1983, Congress lacked a quick way to block agency rules short of passing a new law. The Congressional Review Act, enacted on March 29, 1996, as part of a small business regulatory reform law, requires agencies to submit every final rule to Congress and the Government Accountability Office before it takes effect, and creates an expedited procedure for Congress to disapprove a rule.

Congress has a set period, generally 60 days of session after a rule is received, to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval, and in the Senate such resolutions cannot be filibustered and need only a simple majority. If both chambers pass the resolution and the President signs it, or Congress overrides a veto, the rule is void and the agency may not issue a substantially similar rule unless Congress later authorizes it. Because a President will usually veto attempts to overturn his own administration's rules, the law is used mainly after a change of party, under a lookback provision that reaches rules issued near the end of the prior administration.

The act was used only once before 2017, to overturn an ergonomics rule in 2001, but Congress used it 16 times in 2017, three times in 2021, and 22 times in 2025, more than in all previous years combined, including to revoke waivers that allowed California to set stricter vehicle emissions standards, even though GAO had advised that the waivers were not rules subject to the act. Supporters say the act restores Congress's control over regulations, while critics say its ban on similar rules can freeze policy for years and that its use in 2025 stretched the law beyond its terms.