Constitution Index · H.R. 4305 · 2025-07-10
DUMP Red Tape Act
Latest official status (2025-12-04): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Constitutional grade
A
Constitutional
The bill is a narrow administrative measure directing the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy to maintain an existing hotline for small entities to report federal regulatory burdens and to report annually to Congress. It does not regulate private conduct, restrict rights, take property, or shift power upward beyond what is needed to address federal agency rules. It falls comfortably within Congress's enumerated powers.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 Amendment V
SI-generated grade · passed automated checks (real Constitution citation, language rules) · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology · Report an error: hello@valuesforamerica.com
The five checks
Enumerated powers · passes
Congress has authority under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 to regulate interstate commerce and under Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 to make laws necessary and proper for executing federal governmental functions. This bill does not regulate commerce directly; it directs an office of the Small Business Administration to operate a hotline and report on federal regulatory burdens. That is internal federal administration within Congress's spending and administrative authority.
Bill of Rights · passes
The bill implicates none of the first ten amendments. It compels no speech, restricts no religion, press, assembly, or petition rights, authorizes no search or seizure, and imposes no criminal or civil penalty. The hotline is voluntary for small entities to use, and reporting to Congress is an ordinary informational function.
Individual liberty · passes
The bill imposes no mandate on individuals or businesses. It does not restrict how a person may use their person, property, speech, labor, or belief. Small entities remain free to use or ignore the hotline. The burden of proving justification for a restriction is not triggered because there is no restriction.
Decentralization · passes
The hotline concerns burdens imposed by federal agencies. An individual or family cannot compel changes to federal agency rules, a local community or county cannot resolve federal regulatory burden, and a state cannot require federal agencies to act. The federal level is the appropriate level for this information-gathering function, and the bill does not consolidate decision-making beyond the minimum necessary.
Due process and takings · passes
The bill takes no property, imposes no adjudicative process, and deprives no person of life, liberty, or property. It merely establishes a reporting mechanism. There is no bypass of due process and no Takings Clause issue under the Fifth Amendment.
Provenance
- Congress.gov: HR 4305 summary · fetched 2026-10-08 · official page ↗
Version history · never overwritten
| Grade | Graded | Rubric | Source hash | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · #414 | 2026-10-09 | vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0 | ae80d0f1953a | current |
Cite this
Values for America. “Constitutional grade: H.R. 4305, DUMP Red Tape Act.” VFA Constitution Index, grade 414 (rubric vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0), graded October 9, 2026. https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/414. Accessed 2026-10-20.
Permalink: https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/414
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