More than three hundred health initiatives have been introduced under the Trump presidency. The little-used statute recognized as the Congressional Review Act helps a new government to oversee the revocation of the regulations. However, Congress has not attempted to use it to date, and the president has not requested it. The legislation extends, with a few variations, to policies concluded between 21 August 2020 and 20 January 2021. It is only valid for the first 60 parliamentary days of the current Congress.

In 2017, Republicans abrogated a family planning policy by the Congressional Review Act. The administration of Biden may well be the one to assess it. Using the act is dangerous, too. No administration will issue an “equivalent” rule under its provisions. Many revisions to Trump’s agenda are part of broader legislation affecting a wide range of topics. The Senate also has a chief for the Management and Budget Bureau to confirm, and the current Secretary for Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, was sworn in last week.

Congress could shift to the Act of Congressional Review. The act was not included during the transfer from Obama to Biden. For both the Biden government and the new Congress, the change process was turbulent. It is not too late for Congress to apply the act to a Trump law at the last minute, which allows HHS to revise 18,000 regulations. This might be a cleaner approach to avoid the sunset clause, which asks for a range of laws to be checked.

Reference

How Biden Could Quickly Undo Trump Era Health Policies, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/26/981410515/how-biden-could-quickly-undo-trump-era-health-policies