The Congressional Review Act: How Congress Can Overturn a Rule | Rulemaking 101

Transcript

Narrated by an AI presenter with a synthetic voice. Check the official documents for current dates and details.

Welcome back to Federal Register Daily. This is Rulemaking 101, the series that helps everyday people understand how federal rules get made, and sometimes unmade. Today we're looking at the Congressional Review Act, or CRA. This is the law that lets Congress vote to cancel a federal rule after an agency finalizes it. By the end of this video, you'll know how that process works, what counts as a major rule, and we'll walk through two real Federal Register documents, from 2025 and 2026, where agencies removed rules after Congress disapproved them. If you're new here, go ahead and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.

Let's start with the basics. Under the law, before most rules can take effect, the agency has to submit them to Congress first. The statute says the agency must send a report to both the House and the Senate, and to the Comptroller General. That report includes a copy of the rule, a statement about whether it's a major rule, and the date it's supposed to take effect. This is what opens the window for Congress to review the rule at all. The window for introducing a disapproval resolution is tied to when Congress receives this report.

Quick recap: before a rule takes effect, the agency has to send Congress a report describing the rule and its effective date.

So how does Congress actually reject a rule? Through a joint resolution of disapproval. The law spells out the exact wording lawmakers use, filling in the agency name and the rule. If both the House and Senate pass that resolution and the President signs it, the rule has no force or effect. The Senate process is expedited too. Under the statute, debate is limited to ten hours, and if a committee hasn't acted after 20 calendar days, a petition supported in writing by 30 senators can discharge it. This is why CRA resolutions can move faster than typical legislation.

Quick recap: Congress can pass a joint resolution disapproving a rule, using expedited Senate procedures, and if the President signs it, the rule has no force or effect.

You'll hear the term major rule a lot with the CRA, so let's define it. The law says a rule is major if the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs finds it's likely to have an annual effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more, or a major increase in costs for consumers or industries, or significant effects on things like competition or employment. Major rules get extra scrutiny, including a report from the Comptroller General, and they take effect on a delayed timeline so Congress has time to review them.

Quick recap: a major rule is one likely to have at least a $100 million effect on the economy, or major cost increases, or significant competitive effects.

Here's a detail that surprises a lot of people. Once Congress disapproves a rule, the agency doesn't just lose that one rule. The statute says the rule may not be reissued in substantially the same form, and a new rule that is substantially the same as such a rule may not be issued. There's an exception: Congress could pass a later law specifically authorizing it. But absent that, the agency is largely blocked from bringing back a similar rule on its own.

Quick recap: once disapproved, a rule can't be reissued in substantially the same form unless a later law specifically allows it.

Now let's see this play out in real life. The IRS and Treasury Department had finalized a rule requiring certain digital asset brokers to report gross proceeds. According to this Federal Register document, the House passed a joint resolution disapproving that rule on March 11, 2025, the Senate passed it on March 26, and the President signed it on April 10, 2025, as Public Law 119-5. The document states that under Public Law 119-5 and by operation of the CRA, the Final Rule has no force or effect. So the IRS removed the rule from the Code of Federal Regulations and reverted to the text in effect before it. The document notes that under the CRA, a rule disapproved this way is treated as though it had never taken effect.

Quick recap: Congress disapproved the IRS digital asset broker rule, the President signed the resolution, and the IRS removed the rule from the CFR.

Here's a second example, this time from the EPA. In 2024, EPA finalized new air emissions standards for the rubber processing part of tire manufacturing. This document explains that Congress passed a joint resolution disapproving that rule, with the Senate passing it on May 6, 2025, and the President signed it on May 23, 2025, as Public Law 119-14. The document says that under the joint resolution and by operation of the CRA, the 2024 Rubber Tire Rule has no legal force or effect. So EPA removed those provisions and reverted to the earlier 2020 rule that had been in place before.

Quick recap: Congress disapproved EPA's 2024 rubber tire emissions rule, and EPA reverted to the earlier 2020 standards.

That's the Congressional Review Act in a nutshell: agencies report rules to Congress, Congress can vote to disapprove them through an expedited process, and once disapproved, a rule loses its force and generally can't come back in a similar form. Thanks for learning with us today. Subscribe for more episodes of Rulemaking 101, and tell us in the comments about a rule you've followed or a question you still have. And remember, you can always go read and comment on open proposed rules yourself at regulations.gov.