[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT IMPROVEMENT ACT

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                         HON. LINDA T. SANCHEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 11, 2008

  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
introduce the Congressional Review Act Improvement Act.
  This legislation would cut government waste by reducing duplicative 
paperwork and relieving some of the administrative burdens that are 
currently mandated by the Congressional Review Act, the congressional 
review mechanism of agency rules. The Congressional Review Act requires 
that all agencies promulgating a rule must submit to both Houses of 
Congress, and to the Comptroller General at the Government 
Accountability Office, a report that contains a copy of the rule, a 
concise general statement describing the rule, and the proposed 
effective date of the rule. Thus, under current law, the same material 
is submitted, housed, and printed at four different governmental 
entities.
  Specifically, this legislation would eliminate the requirement that 
agencies submit their rules that are printed in the Federal Register to 
each House of Congress. Instead of receiving the full submission of 
each individual rule, the House and Senate would receive a weekly list 
of all rules from the Comptroller General. The House and Senate would 
then enter that list into the Congressional Record with a statement of 
referral for each rule. Under these revisions, agencies would still be 
required to submit rules and reports to each House of Congress that 
were not printed in the Federal Register, and Congress could still 
employ the procedures in the Congressional Review Act to disapprove 
agency rules.
  I urge my colleagues to join as cosponsors to this legislation that 
makes commonsense modifications of the Congressional Review Act.

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