The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act is the most important structural reform legislation to restore accountability to the federal regulatory process.
The bill, passed by the House in the 118th United States Congress with a vote of 221-210, would require any economically significant regulation to be approved by the House and Senate and signed by the president, or subject to a veto-override, before it could take effect. In other words, we would follow the lawmaking process defined by the Constitution for the country’s most important economic policies.
While we continue to push for Senate action on this important legislation, the prospects for passage with the current Democratic Senate and President Biden are dim.
With an eye toward 2025, we asked all of the presidential campaigns this simple survey question: “If elected, would you sign legislation like the REINS Act?” Below are the responses and other relevant public statements.
Direct quotes from candidates are in italics.
We will update this page until we know where all the candidates stand on this issue.
Doug Burgum has not yet responded to our survey.
Chris Christie‘s 2016 campaign provided the following statement (we will update if they provide a new response):
“Governor Christie supports the REINS Act and has spoken extensively on the campaign trail about his plans to get regulation under control as president. During the transition, Governor Christie would direct his team to review every rule and executive order published under the Obama administration so that the most egregious and unlawful ones can be revoked on his first day as president. He has called for the restoration of the principle that for any new regulatory change proposed that the benefits outweigh the costs. We should also impose a ‘Regulatory Zero’ rule in which for each new rule that is imposed, one of equal cost must be sunseted or removed. Additionally, we should impose a hard cap on what it can cost for employers to complying with all federal regulation.”
Ron DeSantis
In his campaign launch Twitter Space, Congressman Thomas Massie asked Ron DeSantis: “Would you sign the REINS Act?” and DeSantis answered: “Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, that’s a no brainer.”
In response to our survey, DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo wrote: “Ron DeSantis has cosponsored it multiple times and the House passed it every Congress he was in.”
Nikki Haley
Ambassador Haley has expressly committed to signing the REINS Act. Per our official survey question, she sent us this statement:
“The federal bureaucracy is unelected, unaccountable, and running riot over our rights. Under my economic plan, we will revive the middle class and make sure the government is working for the American people again. The REINS Act will force Congress to vote on price-hiking, job-destroying, family-crushing mandates, and I will sign it into law as President.”
Mike Pence:
In response to our survey, Pence communications staff Rachael Slobodien wrote: “Mike Pence has long supported curbing the administrative state and returning power to the people where it rightfully belongs. In fact, he was a co-sponsor of the REINS Act when he served in the House of Representatives. As the Vice President has stated previously:
‘We must permanently reduce the size and scope of the federal government by restoring to the states and the people those responsibilities and resources that are rightfully theirs under the Constitution of the United States.’”
Vivek Ramaswamy has not yet responded to our survey.
Tim Scott says on his Senate website:
“To help combat these job-destroying rules and regulations, I became an original cosponsor of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which provides Congressional oversight over any major rule or regulation issued by Washington bureaucrats. Agencies pushing their own agenda should not be allowed to shape the future of our economy, and the REINS Act will ensure that doesn’t happen.”
In response to our survey, the Scott campaign’s Policy Director Joshua Grant wrote: “Senator Scott is actually a cosponsor of the REINS Act. Big supporter!”
Donald Trump provided the following statement during the 2016 campaign (we will update if he provides a new response):
“I will sign the REINS Act should it reach my desk as President and more importantly I will work hard to get it passed. The monstrosity that is the Federal Government with its pages and pages of rules and regulations has been a disaster for the American economy and job growth. The REINS Act is one major step toward getting our government under control.”