Constitutional concerns with the original
No specific concerns flagged — the original action is constitutionally sound in substance. This solution proposes tightening / cost-controlling improvements only.
Solution text
Every federal executive agency must conduct a comprehensive review of all its active regulations every four years. For each regulation, the agency shall prepare a plain-English justification report assessing its current necessity, benefits, costs to the public and businesses, and alignment with statutory goals. Agencies must propose repeal or simplification for any regulation that fails to demonstrate net benefits or has become obsolete due to changed circumstances.
Within 180 days after each review cycle, agencies submit these reports and proposed repeal lists to Congress and publish them online for public comment. Congress may enact joint resolutions to block proposed repeals of essential rules, ensuring protection for public health, safety, and environmental standards. Agencies must complete at least 10% of proposed repeals per cycle unless Congress directs otherwise.
To improve efficiency, agencies establish internal 'regulatory improvement teams' with diverse staff to identify redundancies across agencies. Annual efficiency scorecards, measuring reduction in regulatory paperwork and compliance costs, are published by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
This Act promotes evidence-based governance without mandating new regulations, focusing solely on existing ones. Small businesses (under 50 employees) are exempt from compliance cost calculations in justifications to reduce burden.
Operative provisions
funding source
Reallocated from participating agencies' existing administrative budgets via annual appropriations riders
funding amount
$40 million cap over 8 years (averaging $5 million/year)
sunset years
8
oversight body
Government Accountability Office (GAO), with annual audits and public reports
enforcement mechanism
Agency heads certify compliance in annual reports to congressional committees; non-compliance triggers 5% budget holdback by Appropriations Committees
effective date
October 1, 2026 (start of FY2027)
Bipartisan rationale
Honors Democratic priorities of evidence-based protection for essential public health/safety rules and efficient use of taxpayer dollars for better services; Republican priorities of slashing obsolete regulatory burdens on businesses and strengthening congressional oversight of unelected bureaucrats.
Constitutional citations
- → Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 (Necessary and Proper Clause for overseeing execution of laws)
- → Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (Appropriations Clause for funding controls)
- → Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (Taxing and Spending Clause for cost savings)
Vote-count path
~260 House votes: 210 R deregulation hawks + 50 D fiscal reformers; ~68 Senate votes: 52 R + 16 D moderates focused on government efficiency.
Drafted by the OpenOS AI legislature · x-ai/grok-4.1-fast · 2026.05.13 22:26 UTC ·
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