Exclusive - Kevin McCarthy: House, Senate Republican Majorities to Repeal Regulations, Cut Inflation

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) explained on Breitbart News Saturday how House and Senate Republican majorities could rein in the Joe Biden administration by repealing Democrat regulations and sending him Republican bills.

McCarthy spoke to Breitbart News Saturday host and Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle as McCarthy has been traveling the country working to win back the House majority. He said that if Republicans were to take back the House and the Senate, they could rein in the Biden administration with various legislative tools of Congress.

“If we have the Senate, there are some stronger levers we can use, we have the Congressional Review Act, where we can repeal new regulations that they propose with just 51 votes in the Senate,” McCarthy explained. “And remember, the other thing we can do is use reconciliation, where we can use 51 votes in the Senate and we can pass a really big spending package that would do [spending] cuts and make us stronger, get rid of inflation, and put it on the president’s desk with a lot of strong policy. We can do rescissions, take away wasteful spending in different places, and hold the agencies accountable.”

The House and Senate Republican majorities under President Donald Trump used the Congressional Review Act to repeal many onerous regulations that persisted from the Barack Obama administration. These included:

• Overzealous transparency: H.J. Res. 41 reversed a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that was crafted as an anti-corruption measure under the Dodd-Frank regulations but which energy companies considered too onerous. Critics complained that the regulation gave foreign energy companies a pass while hurting domestic companies.
• Coal mining: H.J. Res. 38 ended the “Stream Protection Rule,” a Department of the Interior rule that hurt coal.
• Gun control: H.J. Res. 40 reversed a rule by the Social Security Administration, which had yet to take effect, restricting gun purchases by the mentally ill through the use of additional firearms background checks.
• Labor “blacklisting”: H.J. Res 37 ended a “blacklisting” rule, under several agencies, that required federal contractors to disclose any violations of 14 other labor regulations within the previous three years.
• Land use: H. J. Res 44 ended a Department of the Interior rule, “Bureau of Land Management Planning 2.0,” that gave the federal government more, and state and local government less, authority in land use decisions.
• Federal education standards: H. J. Res 57 and H.J. Res 58 reversed new federal standards for new teachers that the Department of Education had sought to impose under legislation signed by President Obama in 2015.
• Drug testing for unemployment: H.J. Res. 42 overturned a Department of Labor regulation that had restricted the use of drug testing to determine workers’ eligibility to receive unemployment compensation.
• Hunting predators: H.J. Res. 69 reversed a Department of the Interior rule, pushed by animal rights activists, banning non-subsistence hunting of predator species for population control in wildlife refuges in Alaska.
• Injury paperwork: H. J. Res. 83 nullified a Department of Labor rule requiring more records of worker injuries.
• Broadband privacy: S. J. Res 34 repeals an FCC rule requiring Internet Service Providers to ask customers before sharing private information with advertisers — which Google and Facebook could still do under the rule.
• Forced savings: H. J. Res. 67 reverses a Department of Labor rule allowing states to force workers to save.
• Planned Parenthood: H. J. Res 43 repeals a mandate that all but required states to fund the abortion provider.

Reconciliation is a powerful tool that Republicans can use to pass spending bills that can often make sweeping changes. Republicans used reconciliation to pass the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and attempted to use reconciliation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. With Republican control of Congress, Republicans can pass legislation with only a simple majority in the Senate — 51 votes — and pass legislation that would end up on Biden’s desk, forcing him to either sign or veto potentially popular legislation such as border wall funding or legislation to crack down on inflation.

A rescission package can pass through the Senate with only a simple majority, allowing Republicans to bypass the 60-vote threshold, and cut wasteful spending at leftist-controlled agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Not only that, but McCarthy said that Republicans can check the Democrat administration by having future House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and future House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) conduct vigorous oversight of the many scandals unfolding under Biden’s watch.

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Eastern.