OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2016. Republican leaders in the US Congress want to act early in 2017 to repeal last-minute regulations issued by President Barack Obama and place restrictions on how federal agencies adopt rules in the future.

US House of Representatives majority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) said his members would take those actions soon after they return to Capitol Hill on 3 January. Among his priorities are enacting a bill requiring Congress to approve regulations that cost more than \\$100mn/yr and overturning recently issued federal rules under a statute called the Congressional Review Act.

Throwing out existing rules from the Obama administration and restraining the issuance of costly federal regulations would spur economic growth that he says has been too slow, McCarthy said today at an event hosted by the Washington Post. US GDP growth in the third quarter of 2016 was 3.2pc, according to US Commerce Department data published today.

"We cannot solve the problems of America just by cutting government," McCarthy said. "Tax reform, regulatory reform are the key elements to getting this economy to grow."

President-elect Donald Trump last week vowed to use his executive authority to cancel "job-killing restrictions" on oil, gas and production soon after taking office. But that task would be easier for the administration and less vulnerable to legal challenges if Congress intervenes and overturns some of those regulations through legislation.

Republican lawmakers have threatened to use the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn recent rules by a simple majority vote, to overturn a number of energy sector regulations issued since June 2016. Rules that may be vulnerable include flaring limits on federal land, offshore drilling safety rules, and requirements to control methane leaks from new oil and gas facilities. Another regulation that may be targeted is a pending stream protection rule that would affect coal mining.

But Republicans will face a harder time enacting legislation, called the REINS Act, that would require Congress to vote to approve all regulations expected to cost the US economy more than \\$100mn/yr. The House should easily pass the bill, which Republicans have been [floating]( https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/738066) since 2011. But Senate Republicans will need the support of eight Democrats to break the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.

Senate Democrats up for election in 2018 in states that Trump won may cross the aisle to enact Republican-backed legislation, McCarthy said today. Senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) are among the vulnerable senators who may join with Republicans to enact legislation.

Environmentalists and public health groups oppose the REINS Act because they worry it would block implementation of statutes such as the Clean Air Act. That statute requires regulators to review the adequacy of air quality standards every five years. That review could be jeopardized under the REINS Act if new standards carried a cost of more than \\$100mn/yr.