Today, we are pleased to launch the Center for Progressive Reform’s CRA By the Numbers 2025 tracker. With this tool, we will monitor every Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution and document the threats they pose to our public protections, as well as the benefits that would be lost if they pass. The data presented in the tracker will shine a light on the harm that abusive use of the CRA causes to the public, and why, ultimately, the CRA should be repealed.
But what is the CRA? It is an unusual law that allows Congress to use a special form of legislation to quickly “disapprove” certain agency rules — and to do so along narrow partisan lines. Historically, this means gutting important health, safety, environmental, and financial protections if sponsored resolutions pass by simple majorities and are signed by the president. Once a rule has been rescinded, the CRA further bars the agency from issuing a replacement that is too “similar.”
The CRA is attracting attention now because of its unique “look back” provision. This enables the current GOP-dominated Congress and President Donald Trump to reach back and repeal rules that were issued during the final months of the Biden administration. As the Center documented eight years ago, Trump worked with a similar GOP-dominated Congress to repeal 14 rules using the CRA’s lookback provision. The CRA makes this option available for only a limited period, but as previous experience demonstrates, this is still plenty of time to do a lot of damage.
In addition to regularly updating the tracker until the CRA’s lookback provision expires, we will also publish periodic blog posts that provide an overview of the latest updates, providing analysis on resolutions, legislators, agencies, and other important elements of the CRA process. Below is our first update.
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Between January 23 and February 25, legislators introduced 36 CRA resolutions, 26 in the House and 10 in the Senate. Although no voting has taken place yet, the House and Senate have already taken several resolutions up for consideration.
In the House, H.J.Res. 20 (targeting energy conservation standards for gas-fired water heaters) and H.J.Res. 35 (targeting waste emissions from oil and gas systems) have been placed in the calendar for February 25. In the Senate, S.J.Res. 4 (analogous to H.J.Res. 20), S.J.Res. 12 (analogous to H.J.Res. 35), S.J.Res. 11 (targeting the protection of marine archaeological resources), and S.J.Res. 3 (targeting proceeds reporting from digital assets sales), have also been placed in the calendar.
The speed with which resolutions move through the process depends on many factors, and we are currently in the midst of a push for expediting the voting process via the inclusion of the Midnight Rules Relief Act as part of the budget reconciliation process. If this were to happen, we would see CRA resolutions moving through Congress at a much greater speed.
In total, resolutions have targeted 22 federal agencies, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) being the most frequent. So far, there are 10 CRA resolutions targeting EPA regulations, and that number is likely to grow in the near future. At a distant second are the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with two CRA resolutions targeting three published rules each.
The focus on EPA and DOE is consistent with a widespread push to dismantle climate and energy policy: the three resolutions with the most cosponsors are related to climate and energy policy (S.J.Res.12, S.J.Res.4, and H.J.Res.35). These resolutions also come from legislators whose jurisdictions have deep ties to the fossil fuel industry. One of these legislators is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has sponsored four resolutions so far. All of these have been cosponsored by at least 10 other senators.
