Let’s go CRA-zy?

Aug 08, 2024

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse departs a vote.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) thinks Biden agencies are "keenly aware of the [Congressional Review Act] deadlines." | Francis Chung/POLITICO

WHITHER BIDEN’S REGULATORY LEGACY

Should they regain a White House-Senate-House trifecta this fall, Republicans have made no secret of their intent to use a powerful cudgel against President Joe Biden's regulatory accomplishments. But Democrats believe the administration has done a good job shielding as many of those policy priorities as they can.

At issue is the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to wipe out regulatory actions in areas as varied as climate change, student debt relief, financial services policy and labor protections with a simple majority vote in both chambers. Practically speaking, because a sitting president isn’t going to overturn his or her own initiatives, the blunt tool is typically invoked only after a presidential election causes a broad shift of power from one party to the other.

Republicans, in particular, made aggressive use of the CRA during the opening days of President Donald Trump’s administration to wipe away late regulations issued under President Barack Obama — ultimately tossing 16 regulations. Democrats then employed the statute during the opening days of the Biden administration to ax three late Trump rules.

With potential huge policy shifts at stake in November, Democrats are confident they’ve played better defense this time.

“I believe that the people working on the sort of regulations that annoy the special interests behind the Republican Party are keenly aware of the CRA deadlines and have tried to keep that in mind,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Inside Congress.

It’s estimated that regulations finalized after around May 22 could be subject to repeal under the CRA after Jan. 20. (The date is uncertain because it depends on the number of legislative days, which cannot be precisely calculated in advance.)

Conscious of that timeline, the Biden administration finalized 66 significant regulations in April, according to George Washington University — a tally higher than any month since the Reagan administration.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told Inside Congress he has noticed a conscious effort by the Biden administration to “run out the clock so we can't do a CRA if we have” unified control.

But Republicans have other tools at their disposal to attack Biden’s regulatory legacy.

Perhaps the biggest threat is a federal judiciary that’s been willing to reject novel regulatory interpretations — and one that is now armed with a new Supreme Court ruling that drastically curtails agencies’ regulatory powers to interpret vague or unclear congressional mandates.

Cramer also indicated that Republicans will be better prepared to man the levers of power within agencies than they were during the early days of the first Trump administration, when it took many departments months or years to fully staff up.

“We’re better educated,” Cramer said, saying a smoother transition would allow a potential second Trump administration “to start the rulemaking process if we need to, right away, as opposed to waiting a couple of years.”

— Anthony Adragna

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, Aug. 8, where all talk of Minnesota this week has us blasting some Prince and craving a Juicy Lucy.

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DEMS DEFEND WALZ ON ‘STOLEN VALOR’ CLAIMS

Democratic lawmakers continued pushing back on Sen. JD Vance’s attack on the military record of vice presidential nominee Tim Walz on Thursday. Trump’s running mate and Ohio senator accused Walz, the Minnesota governor and former House member, of “stolen valor” — alleging he timed his retirement after 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard to avoid a 2005 deployment to Iraq.

Other Republican lawmakers joined Vance in the pile-on. Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) called Walz a “coward and a cheat.” Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said Walz ”abandoned his fellow soldiers” and “chose Congress over combat.” And Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Texas) said Walz (confusing, we know) “has some explaining to do.”

In a call organized by the Democratic National Committee on Thursday on the PACT Act, Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Jake Auchincloss (Mass.) and Mikie Sherrill (N.J.), as well as veterans Moises Montalvo and Naveed Shah, defended Walz’ time in the military and cried foul on the attacks.

“First of all, Tim Walz served honorably. He served for 24 years,” Auchincloss said. “You contrast that with Donald Trump's five deferments to Vietnam and his own despicable track record of disparaging veterans and throwing veterans under the bus at every opportunity for his own political game. The chasm is wide, and the chasm is revealing, and we are not going to flinch from these attacks.”

“Not only is it just important to defend because veterans of good conscience and goodwill will always defend fellow veterans of good conscience and goodwill, but it just shows how morally bankrupt they are,” Crow added. “They have no ideas. They have no vision for the future. All they can do is attack and lie and twist and contort.”

— Daniella Diaz

WELL, HOW’D HE DO?

Former President Donald Trump’s lengthy and meandering press conference Thursday drew mainly crickets from elected Republicans in Congress.

As polling shows Vice President Kamala Harris rising in the polls (a rise Team Trump called “suspended reality”), Trump stressed he hasn’t “recalibrated strategy at all" — and vowed to continue traveling to states including Montana and Wyoming in support of Republican Senate candidates.

Trump’s hour-plus Q&A session was intended to draw a sharp contrast with Harris, who has not taken media questions since launching her campaign. “President Trump is taking questions from reporters as Kamala Harris hides behind a teleprompter,” Vance wrote, with the hashtag #wheresKamala.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) echoed that point: “Donald Trump takes every question, does every interview, no filter. What’s Kamala Harris’s excuse?

But Trump’s defensiveness about the size of his crowds compared to Harris’ — as well as his relatively light campaign travel schedule — didn’t escape the notice of some congressional Democrats. “In fairness, I wouldn't expect him to give the honest answer which would simply be to admit that he is lazy, old and entitled,” wrote Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.).

— Anthony Adragna

THREATS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

A man who threatened to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and his children has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Michael Shapiro, 73, left the threats in three voicemails sent to Swalwell’s congressional office in Washington, according to court records.

“I’m gonna come after you and kill you [expletive],” Shapiro said in one of the calls, all made on Dec. 19, 2023. In another, he said, “I’m gonna come and kill your children you mother-[expletive]. I'm gonna kill your children.”

Shapiro pleaded guilty in May to transmitting interstate threats. The sentence was handed down Wednesday by Fort Lauderdale-based U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz.

— Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein

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HUDDLE HOTDISH

Chuck Grassley would reallllly like you to go to the Iowa State Fair.

Capitol Hill staffers for spam filters?

Mike Waltz does not want to be confused with the new Democratic veep nominee.

QUICK LINKS

Nancy Pelosi’s Art of Power, from David Remnick at the New Yorker

Mark Kelly slams Vance for attacking Walz’s military record, from Tara Suter in The Hill

With Congressman Cory Mills facing accusations of stolen valor, Army confirms medals, from the Daytona Beach News Journal

House Speaker Mike Johnson campaigns for Maine congressional candidate Austin Theriault in Auburn, from WMTW’s Cate McCusker

Jack Reed rules out serving as defense secretary if Harris wins, from WPRI’s Ted Nesi and Tim White

TOMORROW IN CONGRESS

The House is in for a pro forma session at 1 p.m.

The Senate is in for a pro forma session at 10 a.m.

THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL

Lots of coffees and out-of-office notifications.

Trivia

WEDNESDAY’S ANSWER: Sam Sokol was the first to correctly guess that President Lincoln and his family spent their summers at President Lincoln's Cottage in Northwest Washington.

TODAY’S QUESTION, from Sam: One letter has never appeared in the name of a vice president. What is it?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.

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