During a House Oversight Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) discussed a proposed amendment regarding amended regulatory powers of agencies.
00:02Gentlemen, yield back. Any other members seek recognition?
00:06Seeing none, the question is now on the amendment offered by myself.
00:12All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
00:15Aye.
00:16All those opposed, signify by saying no.
00:18In the opinion you share, the ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
00:23Do I go on to this thing?
00:25The question is now on the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
00:28All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
00:30Aye.
00:31All those opposed, signify by saying no.
00:34In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
00:38The question is now on favorably reporting H.R. 3490 as amended.
00:43All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
00:45Aye.
00:46All those opposed, signify by saying no.
00:49In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the bill.
00:52Yes.
00:54Recorded vote is ordered as previously announced.
00:56Further proceedings on the question will be postponed.
01:01Our next item for consideration is H.R. 2409, the Guidance Clarity Act.
01:05The clerk will please designate the bill.
01:12H.R. 2409, a bill to require a guidance clarity statement on certain agency guidance and for other purposes.
01:18Without objection, the bill should be considered as read and open for amendment at any point.
01:20Without objection to order, the chair recognizes himself to offer an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
01:24The clerk will please designate the amendment.
01:26An amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2409 is offered by Mr. Comer of Kentucky.
01:29Without objection, the amendment is considered as read and the substitute is considered as original text for the purposes of further amendment.
01:34I now recognize myself for five minutes for a statement on the bill and amendment.
01:38The Guidance Clarity Act is an important reform that clarifies what agency regulatory guidance is and what it is not.
01:49Agency guidance plays a key role in the federal regulatory system.
01:53Often, it is unclear how federal statutes or regulations will be administered by a federal agency.
02:00Agency guidance is important to help small businesses and individual households understand how federal agencies will carry out the law and implement programs.
02:08These entities typically cannot afford high-priced attorneys to help them understand all the legal nuances that apply to them.
02:15So, when an agency issues guidance to clarify an issue, that helps to avoid unnecessary expense.
02:21But, and this is a critical distinction, agency guidance is not the law itself.
02:27However, federal agencies sometimes use guidance documents to intimidate entities into compliance with agency views.
02:34Other times, they try to evade the Administrative Procedure Act's Congressional Review requirements for issuing binding rules by cleverly slipping what they intend to be rules into guidance documents.
02:46Agencies have even been known to threaten enforcement action based on mere guidance.
02:51Recognizing the problem, the first Trump administration's Justice Department issued a formal policy and adopted regulations to prevent its lawyers from bringing such enforcement actions based merely on guidance documents.
03:03Unfortunately, President Biden's Justice Department rescinded the policy and related regulations.
03:10So, once again, the threat of abuse became a reality for Americans.
03:16H.R. 2409 solves this problem by requiring regulatory guidance documents to stipulate that they do not have the force and effect of law.
03:24With that simple addition, agencies will no longer be able to intimidate regulated parties, unfairly threaten enforcement actions, or impose rules disguised as agency guidance.
03:37But agencies will certainly still be free to issue guidance documents to help regulated entities understand how agencies intend to administer the law.
03:45I want to thank Reps. Jerry Golden and Donald Davis for their bipartisan co-sponsorship, and I especially want to thank Representative Eric Burleson, the bill's sponsor, for reintroducing the bill to this Congress and working to ensure this bipartisan reform is enacted in the law.
