Twitter went nuts at the news when Senator Mike Lee dropped the bomb of a statement about the REINS Act and the possible game-changer in restoring the constitutional balance. The idea? That is, major regulations-any regulation exceeding $100 million in compliance would not come into force unless Congress voted for it. An uncharacteristic conglomerate of opinions arose.
Advertisement
That was a good thing because reactions were almost equally divided between hype and skepticism. Raney basically said, “Why even have a cost threshold? Shouldn’t ALL laws be passed by Congress? Isn’t that the job of the legislative branch?” Donna K threw in another one: agencies should not be allowed to make ANY policy decision without a supermajority vote. Seems like some don’t trust the system, in fact.
The impatients were next. Andrew said, “This needs to get done yesterday!” Jfizzle wondered what was holding it up. Don Ruthig was just tired of lawmakers laughing and twiddling their thumbs whilst Trump is off doing the hard work. Cleta Mitchell declared YUUUUGE (very much so in all caps!), thanking Lee for cutting off the foot of the regulatory state. Dramatic? Maybe. Accurate? Depends on who you ask.
Walter D. Clapp, though, was more than skeptical, saying, “Only if Congress works.” And then Lorraine Ortiz went full constitutional, stating, “If a bureaucrat makes a law, it isn’t really a law.” Terece Erickson topped it with: “DC won’t be trusted until politicians and lobbyists start getting arrested for corruption.” Quite spicy but also not far from the truth.
The technical ones followed. According to JohnRogers1984, the threshold should be $100, not $100 million. Michael Friedman began talking about legal workarounds under the Impoundment Act. And the Voluntaryist Minister? This guy debated air security regulations in the replies like it was some sort of philosophy class. Respect.
Advertisement
In a nutshell: loud is really the voice of the people. Some think this should be the no-brainer fix for runaway bureaucracy. Others think this is “too little, too late.” And some others just want somebody-anybody-in DC to really do their jobs. Will the REINS Act pass? Who knows. One thing is sure—no one is happy with the status quo. Is that honest? Probably the most predictable part of this.