Dan Buckley

Associate Editor

Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2026 

Congressional Republicans have faced growing public pushback in early 2025, even from their own voters, regarding their collective inaction as the Trump administration has continued to consolidate power in the executive branch. At the same time, Congressional Republicans have faced increased pressure from the Trump administration, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, to continue to gut regulations and deliver President Trump’s corporate-focused agenda. One method that experts expect Republican lawmakers to utilize in addressing these pressures is the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA allows Congress to repeal recently issued final regulations with only a narrow majority, which could thus lead to harmful deregulation that will likely compound the deregulatory actions already seen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Congressional Review Act: powers and limit

The CRA provides Congress the power to nullify recently issued regulations via a simple majority vote, and with no ability for opponents to filibuster, giving Congressional Democrats little power to stop any nullification process. This method thus allows Republican lawmakers to tell their voters that they are not sitting on the sidelines while also continuing their appeasement of President Trump’s growing appetite for deregulation.

To impose deregulation, the CRA relies primarily on its so-called “lookback” provision. The CRA provides for Congress to have sixty days to review a newly finalized rule. Therefore, any rules finalized in the final sixty days of the previous Congress technically do not meet this requirement. Thus, the “lookback” provision allows the newly elected Congress an additional sixty days in which they can nullify regulations finalized late in the previous administration. Additionally, the CRA prevents any agency which has a rule nullified via this provision to issue a “substantially” similar replacement for it. These powers therefore give Congress a strong tool to enact their deregulatory measures.

Additionally, despite what Congressional Republicans may tell their voters, these deregulatory powers are not a check against the executive branch in any real measure. In fact, the only check on the governmental balance of power the CRA provides is a check on the previous Congress. Congressional Republicans will undoubtedly utilize the CRA to prevent Democrats from stopping controversial deregulation, but it should not be mistaken as an action by Congressional Republicans to take power back into the hands of the legislative branch.

Additional deregulatory efforts by the Trump Administration

In addition to Congressional deregulation via the CRA, the Trump administration has sought to use Elon Musk’s DOGE team to push through further rapid deregulation. On February 19, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) which gives federal agencies sixty days to provide DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a list of regulations relevant to their work that should be rescinded or modified. The EO additionally instructs agency heads to limit regulatory enforcement and to consult with DOGE team members regarding any regulations deemed inefficient. Following its passing, the administration stated that this EO “stops and reverses the [government’s] regulatory overreach and abusive enforcement, ensuring that the operation of the government is responsible, lawful, and efficient.”

These deregulatory efforts are only the latest in a series of executive orders that grant increased powers to the DOGE and OMB teams. Mass terminations of federal workers, frozen federal funding, and tightly controlled public messaging are all examples of the power these teams now wield over all federal agencies. The effects of this EO are thus wide-ranging, and experts have lamented that they effectively give DOGE veto power over every federal agency’s regulation decision making. There are also concerns regarding Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest with these deregulatory goals, considering the likely beneficial financial effects the rules will have on his own businesses.

Potential consequences of mass deregulation

The effects of this ongoing deregulation will be felt for a long time in the United States. The scope of potential deregulation is extremely broad and will likely affect every federal agency by the time it is complete. Environmental and immigration-related regulations appear to be among the first targets, but labor and health-related regulations will likely be impacted as well. One potential example of a rule that could be targeted was one finalized by the U.S. Department of Labor in mid-December 2024, and thus subject to CRA review under the “lookback” provision. The finalized rule blocked efforts to shift the responsibility of paying for benefits related to black lung in coal miners to the government instead of the coal mine owners and operators. Other examples of potential targets are the various rules finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a favorite target of the first Trump administration, which regulate the replacement of lead drinking pipes and the release of methane into the air.

In total, the potential effects of deregulation pursued by President Trump and Congressional Republicans could be devastating for regulating everything from the environment to business dealings. The refusal to bow to pressure from President Trump by even a few Congressional Republicans could prevent some of this, but regardless, the deregulatory efforts seem to be another step in the Trump administration’s consolidation of power.