[20200723]LSB10523_第116届国会行政法改革立法.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Administrative Law Reform Legislation in the 116th Congress July 23, 2020 Congress has broad authority to define and prescribe the powers and responsibilities of federal agencies. Typically, an agency may carry out its congressionally prescribed responsibilities in a number of ways, including through issuing binding regulations and adjudicative orders, and through providing nonbinding oral or written guidance to stakeholders and the public. And Congress may, within constitutional bounds, alter agencies powers and responsibilities as it deems appropriate. The 116th Congress has considered numerous legislative proposals to alter the administrative rulemaking process or the way those rules may be reviewed by courts and the legislative branch. Some proposals would modify the rulemaking procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), including to require, in certain situations, trial-type, evidentiary hearings on specific types of rules. Others would increase congressional involvement in agency rulemaking by, for example, requiring legislative approval of certain rules before they may g