The Senate Appropriations Committee on August 1, 2024 approved its Fiscal Year (2025) Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies spending bill on a bipartisan vote of 25-3. If eventually signed into law, it would provide $122.8 billion for the HHS, $5.1 billion (4.3%) above the FY 2024 enacted level, and $14.9 billion (13.8%) more than the FY 2025 House bill. Additional features include the provision of $310 million for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs, a total increase of $31 million (3.8%) compared to FY 2024. The legislation would furnish $9.3 billion in total funding for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, a $173 million (1.8%) increase compared to FY 2024. While the House bill, would eliminate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Senate bill would spend $376 million for this entity in FY 2025, a $7 million (9%) increase compared to FY 2024.
Congress has responsibility for passing legislation that enables the federal government to function. Executive branch agencies use these laws to produce the rules and regulations necessary to implement the functions and activities Congress originally intended. Since 2024 is an election year, it is worth noting that during the final months of presidential Administrations, federal agencies often have increased the pace of their regulatory activities, a phenomenon known as “midnight rulemaking.” According to a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) that was released on July 30 of this year, because it can be a challenge to change or eliminate rules after they have been finalized, issuing midnight rules can help ensure a legacy for an outgoing President.
Some concerns that have been raised over midnight rulemaking include the decreased political accountability for an outgoing Administration, the potential for rules that are rushed through at the end of an Administration not to have the same opportunity for public input, and the potential for the quality of regulations to suffer during the midnight period because the departing Administration may issue rules quickly and without subjecting them to rigorous review or analysis. A new Administration has various options for reviewing, amending, or repealing midnight regulations and it has fairly wide authority to do so, provided the new policies are consistent with procedural and other legal requirements.
Congress also has general control over agencies through a variety of means, including general legislative power over agencies’ rulemaking authority and individual regulations. Agencies are bound first and foremost by whatever Congress has established or required in statute. An example is that Congress may use the Congressional Review Act (CRA; 5 U.S.C. §§801-808) to disapprove final rules. The CRA contains fast-track procedures—particularly in the Senate—for considering a joint resolution of disapproval to overturn a rule. If both houses of Congress pass that resolution of disapproval, it is sent to the President for signature. If the President signs it, the rule cannot take effect and will be treated as though it had never been in effect.