Lummis, Schmitt lead colleagues in reclaiming legislative power post-Chevron

July 16, 2024

Washington, D.C.- Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) joined Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) in launching a working group to reclaim legislative authority wrongfully afforded to administrative agencies and restore this power back to where it belongs: with duly-elected members of Congress and the people they serve.

"The Constitution is clear: decision-making powers lie with the democratically-elected members of Congress, not unelected bureaucrats," said Lummis. "For far too long, the Chevron doctrine gave this administration carte blanche, empowering President Biden's agencies to pander to its far-left base and drown the people of Wyoming in a sea of regulations. In light of the Supreme Court's ruling, I am partnering with my colleagues to take the necessary steps to restore legislative powers to the people and finally put these runaway agencies back in their place."

The Post-Chevron working group will meet regularly to assess the monumental decision in Loper Bright and determine how to best limit the unlawful exercise of power by the administrative state as well as how the Senate can more effectively legislate on matters that regularly would've been left up to agency deference.

Senator Lummis and her colleagues are also in the process of sending oversight letters to 101 agencies that have published more than 50 final rules since the year 2000. Those agencies will include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Transportation.

In the letters, the senators will ask for more information on ongoing rulemaking, civil enforcement actions and adjudications by said agencies and how the Loper Bright decision impacts all of those actions moving forward, so that the senators can better conduct oversight over those agencies.