WASHINGTON - Chairman Bryan Steil (WI-01) opened today's Full Committee Hearing titled, “Congress in a Post-Chevron World.”

Chairman Steil's full opening statement as prepared for delivery: 

When drafting the Constitution, the Founding Fathers created the Legislative Branch under Article I, and created the People’s House.   


Our Founders envisioned Congress to be the most powerful branch of the Federal Government.  


Yet in recent years, we have seen Congress become the weakest of our three branches. 


Last month, the Supreme Court decided that must change.  


In 1982, the Supreme Court made a mistake establishing the Chevron doctrine.  


In Chevron v. NRDC, the Court established the Chevron doctrine, concluding that the Court should defer to unelected federal bureaucrats for implicit statutory interpretation.  


For forty years, Federal agencies have interpreted and implemented laws based on their own definitions, sometimes unaligned with congressional intent.  


Under Chevron, Executive Branch agencies had the central role in interpreting federal statutes.  


In turn, it took power away from Congress and allowed unelected federal bureaucrats to make decisions that impacted hundreds of millions of Americans. 


Last month, the Supreme Court changed course.  

 
In the Loper Bright case, the Court overturned the Chevron doctrine and placed the lawmaking power back where it belongs, with us in Congress. 

 
The Justices agreed with many of the concerns we in Congress have voiced for decades. 

 
In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas wrote: “By giving the force of law to agency pronouncements on matters of private conduct as to which Congress did not actually have an intent, Chevron permits a body other than Congress to perform a function that requires an exercise of legislative power.”  

 
And in his concurring opinion, Justice Gorsuch explained: “Even its most ardent defenders have conceded, Chevron deference rests upon a ‘fictionalized statement of legislative desire,’ namely, a judicial supposition that Congress implicitly wishes judges to defer to executive agencies’ interpretations of the law even when it has said nothing of the kind.” 

 
The Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright overturning the Chevron Doctrine correctly restores the legislative power where the Constitution actually assigns it—in the Legislative Branch. 

 
Now, it is our opportunity to explore how we leverage the Supreme Court’s ruling.   

 
Without action, we run the risk of continuing to grow the administrative state.  

 
We must rein in the administrative state.  


Let’s look at the facts: 

 
There are 439 Executive Branch agencies that have the authority to issue and enforce federal regulations. 

 
There are over 2.2 million non-military Executive Branch employees. 

 
There are over 200,000 pages in the Code of Federal Regulations.  

 
In fact, the Biden Administration published over 90,000 pages in the Federal Register in 2023. 

 
For context, the average Bible is just over 1,200 pages long. 

 
That means the Biden Administration has added roughly 80 Bibles worth of material in just one year. 

 
The Biden Administrations’ regulations have cost the American taxpayers an estimated $1.4 trillion since he took office.  

 
So, how can Congress address the growing administrative state? 

 
What are the first steps we should take?  

 
Today, we will talk about how and when Congress should engage in the rule making process, Congress’s capacity to do so, and more.  

 
For decades the model was simple – Congress establishes the policy by passing the laws and agencies provide technical expertise through the rule-making process. 


But the agencies have gone far beyond providing technical expertise. 


Now that the Supreme Court has correctly overturned the Chevron Deference Doctrine, we must begin restoring power to the Legislative Branch. 


This is our opportunity to ask important questions about the structure of Congress, now that our role in the rule-making process has been re-established. 


In the Loper Bright decision, the Supreme Court has provided a real opportunity for Congress to restore itself to the “people’s house” once again.? 


I look forward to a robust discussion on this important topic today.  

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