Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is strongly urging the 119th Congress to pass the “Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny” (REINS) Act to rein in the unelected bureaucrats from Executive agencies whose rules are being treated as laws.
The Act would require that any major rule proposed by executive agencies (those costing over $100 million annually) would have to be approved by Congress before going into effect.
It may seem like a technical fix but Lee argues that the REINS Act seeks to prevent the loss of our freedom.
The REINS Act is not optional
Congress must pass it this year
Or we lose our freedom altogether
Please take a look to see for yourself https://t.co/bFkQhFwbmy
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 7, 2025
Currently, the American people labor under sweeping rules handed down by unelected, unaccountable administrative state bureaucrats that impact nearly every area of our lives from energy policy to healthcare.
In an effort to avoid accountability that could come back to bite its members at election time, Congress has allowed federal agencies to exercise legislative power in how they implement rules that have the weight of law but that lack accountability to American voters.
Entrepreneur Joe Portman asks, in a post on X, why does Congress exist if it refuses to govern?
MASSIE NAILS IT: The REINS Act: Restoring Accountability in Washington
🚨 Why does Congress exist if it refuses to govern?
That’s the question the REINS Act forces our legislators to answer. For far too long, unelected bureaucrats in executive agencies have wielded unchecked… pic.twitter.com/inbVHyhV37
— Joe Portman (@RealJoePortman) January 7, 2025
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) echoes Sen. Lee’s urgency to restore constitutional balance to the federal government and to ensure than Congress is doing its job.
Joe Portman notes that returning accountability to those whom the Constitution vests with lawmaking authority would bring needed transparency and accountability and restore the checks and balances that make the U.S. a Constitutional Republic rather than a bureaucratic oligarchy.
Did I miss something? When did Congress, the Executive and the Judiciary decide the Constitution is no longer the Supreme Law of the Land? We the People know that it IS the document setting forth how federal is to operate. We also know that unelected bureaucrats do not have now, nor did they ever possess any “law-making” ability or any ability to conduct judicial review. Alas, our “duly elected representatives” in Congress appear never to have read it or lack the reading comprehension skills to grasp its meaning.
Congress cannot delegate its legislative authority to the Executive. “Laws” enacted by Executive proxies have no effect. Illegitimate laws are void ab initio and do not carry any weight. Apparently, Congress believes its chief duty is to 1) spend money the country does not have, and 2) pass 2,500 pp. omnibus bills, 3) assemble committees to investigate various goings-on and 4) raise funding for re-election.
Watching much of this unfold over the course of my life, I see that America has bred the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst who value money over liberty, and a “go along to get along” attitude. When government is robbing you of everything you own, and imprisoning people for merely demonstrating and voicing dissent, it’s time to burn it all down. Not enough Americans populate this country any longer, but Mike Lee has had a hand in that initiative as well, so I am not surprised to find out that he believes Congress needs to enact a laws to restate what the Constitution resolved long ago.
Wouldn’t pulling the funding from these agencies and passing legislation that is clear, concise and not open to interpretation have the same effect? I’m not sure that I understand why it is imperative to pass legislation that gives Congress the power to do what it is constitutionally empowered to do if it would just get off its collective ass and do its job.