Federal agencies issue thousands of regulations every year — environmental standards, financial reporting rules, drug-approval procedures, worker safety rules, consumer protections, and more. Currently, most of those regulations take effect through agency action alone; Congress has the power to reject them, but rarely does. This bill, the REINS Act of 2025, would flip that default for any 'major rule' — defined as one with at least $100 million in annual economic effect. Such rules could not take effect unless Congress affirmatively passed a joint resolution approving them within 70 days. Nonmajor rules would still take effect by default but with expedited disapproval procedures. The bill would also require agencies to publish underlying data and cost-benefit analyses for each rule, set an annual federal regulatory budget capping new regulatory costs, automatically sunset all major rules after 10 years unless Congress reauthorizes them, and create a private right of action allowing individuals to challenge whether a rule was properly classified as major. Bills like REINS have been introduced repeatedly over more than a decade and reflect a broader debate about how much policy-making authority the legislative branch should retain rather than delegate to executive-branch agencies. Sponsored by Sen. Paul and 18 cosponsors, all Republicans.
Transparency & Accountability
- Congressional approval requirement for major federal rules — Rules with $100M+ annual economic effect cannot take effect without a joint resolution within 70 session days
- Sunset for major rules — All major federal rules expire after 10 years unless Congress reauthorizes them
- Underlying-data publication requirement — Agencies must publish data, studies, and cost-benefit analyses for each rule
- Public guidance-document database — All federal agency guidance documents must be published in a single online location
- Annual federal regulatory budget — OMB sets a cap on net annual incremental regulatory costs across the federal government
- Private right of action on rule classification — Individuals can challenge in federal court whether an agency properly labeled a rule as nonmajor
Congressional Summary
Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2025This bill expands congressional review of federal agency rules and establishes additional procedures for major rules and agency guidance.Specifically, the bill requires the enactment of a joint resolution for a major rule to take effect. A major rule is a rule that has resulted in or is likely to result in (1) an annual economic effect of at least $100 million; (2) a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual industries, government agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, or innovation.Additionally, major rules approved by a joint resolution under the bill expire, and are no longer effective, 10 years after the enactment of such joint resolution. Further, each agency must annually designate at least 10% of the agency’s major rules that are currently in effect for review and approval by a joint resolution of Congress. Such rules that are not approved shall no longer be in effect.Under the bill, agency guidance documents are considered rules and certain significant guidance documents are considered major rules. Significant guidance documents include guidance anticipated to lead to an annual effect of at least $100 million, or adversely affect in a material way the economy, the environment, public health, or state or local government.The Office of Management and Budget must establish an federal regulatory budget specifying the net amount of incremental regulatory costs allowed by the federal government for the next fiscal year.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-02-06
- Date Added
- 2026-05-02
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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