Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chairman, it seems this Congress will close out the 114th session much the same as it opened. Then we considered H.R. 185, a repeat of the anti-public health, anti-environment, anti-public safety legislation that was defeated in the 112th and 113th Congresses and which would come to characterize, unfortunately, this Congress. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that just before we adjourn, the House majority will offer one last retread of this social Darwinian philosophy.

This latest iteration, the seductively titled Midnight Rules Relief Act, is nothing more than a retread, a backdoor attempt to roll back important steps to protect our constituents and our communities. My amendment would, at the very least, ensure we continue to take steps to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Climate change already poses a real and growing threat to our children, our families, our national security, and our economy. Denying it exists doesn't make it so. I can tell you in my native State of Virginia, we are seeing the effects of climate change in low-lying areas, including in and around our all-important naval base in Norfolk.

I know there are some who believe that the Clean Power Plan and similar rules which seek to curb climate change will crush the economy, but I will point out we have to listen to rhetoric all the time about job-killing regulations in the environment. The fact of the matter is Clean Air Act amendments and related amendments to protect our air and our water have, in fact, created jobs and, with respect to power rates, have, in fact, lowered power rates in large parts of the country, including my own in Virginia.

Turning my attention, Mr. Chairman, to the second amendment amalgamated, this bill once again amends the Congressional Review Act to allow a joint resolution disapproving en bloc regulations. The title of the bill leads one to believe that the period of coverage spans the waning hours of a Presidency when, in fact, according to the nonpartisan CRS, 60 legislative days takes us back to May of 2016, before we even confirmed our final Presidential candidates.

The Congressional Review Act already permits Congress to disapprove of regulations. This bill is nothing more than a partisan attempt to prevent the implementation of critical laws by our Federal Government to delegitimize President Obama's final months in office. I think it is unwise. I think it is imprudent. I think just like leaving a vacancy on the Supreme Court for an entire year on the dubious theory that a President in his last year of office ought to be somehow a lameduck in every respect as if he had not legitimately been elected by the people of this country is certainly, I think, false logic, false constitutional logic, and dangerous to the functioning of a republic.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chairman, I take my friend from California's point about data. Let's look at OMB's latest report to Congress on Federal regulation which found that the monetized benefits of Federal regulations over the past decade are significantly higher, by a 10 to 1 margin, than their cost. That is their report. It is an inconvenient fact, but there it is.

I will finally end, Mr. Chairman, because I want to be respectful of my friend's intent here in trying to amalgamate these two amendments.

I am sorry, this is another bill in the long process of trying to delegitimize President Obama's Presidency, and it, to me, is a shameful episode where some of my friends on the other side of the aisle--not necessarily Mr. Issa--have attempted to basically nullify his ability to function as President, and therefore he has had to rely on executive powers in the absence of legislative action and thwarting.

I think the most egregious one besides this bill is, of course, leaving a vacancy open on the Supreme Court under the very dubious logic that somehow he is not entitled in the last year. That logic leads every single Member of Congress basically to not do anything in the second year here in the House because the same logic would pertain to them. They are lameducks until they are reelected or until the will of the people is heard in the next election cycle. That is, to me, foolish logic, dangerous logic, and I think it will put a cloud over the next President's tenure.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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