[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S13185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CRAPO:
  S. 1795. A bill to require that before issuing an order, the 
President shall cite the authority for the order, conduct a cost 
benefit analysis, provide for public comment, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.


                    executive orders limitation act

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Executive Orders 
Limitation Act of 1999.
  A growing number of Americans have expressed concern that President 
Clinton has sought to bypass the constitutional role of Congress by 
issuing Executive orders or proclamations that have the force of law 
and the practical impact of law. Indeed, the use of Executive orders 
has increased dramatically. For example, the first 24 Presidents issued 
1,262 Executive orders, whereas the last 17 Presidents have issued 
11,798 orders.
  The bill I introduce today seeks to strengthen article I of the 
Constitution which grants all legislative powers to the Congress. The 
bill seeks to strengthen our system of checks and balances by ensuring 
that all Executive orders are based on the President's expressed 
constitutional or statutory authority. The bill would require the 
President to cite the exact constitutional or statutory authority he is 
exercising when he issues an Executive order. It would require the 
publication of a cost-benefit analysis and a public comment period 
before an Executive order can take effect.
  The act would also provide for expedited judicial review of 
questionable Executive orders. The Congress has previously set limits 
on the President's ability to issue Executive orders when it required 
that all orders be printed in the Federal Register. My bill would not 
in any way limit the President's ability to issue an Executive order 
which he has the constitutional right to issue. The Executive Orders 
Limitation Act of 1999 seeks to preserve the constitutional separation 
of powers by safeguarding Congress' legislative power, while at the 
same time protecting the President's constitutional and statutory 
authorities.
  The question of how a law is enacted in America was one of the most 
important and significant debates in our constitutional convention. 
That is why we have a system of government established under our 
Constitution by which it is the Congress that makes the law that 
governs this Nation. The President then decides, as he has the right to 
do, whether to sign that law or not. We do not have a system where one 
man or even one branch of our Government has the ability to 
unilaterally create law. Yet that is what the practical effect of the 
use of Executive orders has become in today's timeframe in the way that 
President Clinton has begun using these Executive order powers.
  This legislation will bring appropriate controls to the issue. If the 
President has constitutional or statutorily delegated authority to 
issue Executive orders in a given area, those authorities and those 
rights are preserved. But in those areas where Congress or the 
Constitution have not given the President the authority to enact and 
act as though he were imposing new legal requirements, then that is 
prohibited.
  This legislation is critical. It should not be deemed a threat to 
anyone from any particular perspective on any issue. It should be 
deemed what it is, an effort to restore the balance of power and the 
system of government, in particular the system of making laws our 
constitutional founders intended when they created the Constitution of 
this country.
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