House bill aims to curtail abuse of bureaucratic power

Congressman Frank Guinta (Courtesy photo)

WASHINGTON - Congressman Frank Guinta voted on Tuesday for the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, a bill that would overturn courts' deference to administrative rules and regulations, as opposed to federal law on which they are based.

"Federal agencies are writing law and ruling on it, a clear violation of the Constitution's separation of powers, in which courts also have a vested interest," said Rep. Guinta (NH-01). "Courts, as well as Congress, have ceded their authority to federal agencies, a fourth branch of government denying Americans a host of rights: due process, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, a fair trial."

"This list goes on," he said. "A unitary executive that is judge and jury is precisely what the Founders feared. I'm proud to vote for today's bill, overturning two overly broad Supreme Court decisions that undermine representative democracy."

Specifically, SOPRA overturn the Chevron and Auer doctrines. In essence, the first allows agencies wide leeway to write rules and regulations unrelated to current statute, as long as Congress has not explicitly prohibited them. The second allows agencies to interpret their own rules and regulations to courts, creating a conflict of interest, explained Guinta.

"Agencies have an incentive to write vague regulations, which they manipulate according to the whims of Washington bureaucrats, the biggest special interest of all," said the Congressman, a co-sponsor of the Separation of Powers Restoration Act.

In the 114^th Congress, Rep. Guinta has argued against unlawful expansions of executive power at both the EPA and DHS, joining two amicus briefs to the Supreme Court.

The SOPRA bill passed along party lines and now goes to the Senate where a similar bill is already in the works, a Guinta spokesman said today.