(Freedom.news) One of the greatest threats to individual liberty and corporate freedom is restrictive and expensive federal regulation, but a group of federal lawmakers is attempting to head off expected new actions by President Obama as he prepares to leave office.

As reported by Politico, there are some 4,000 new regulations – 4,000 – currently winding their way through various federal agencies, many of which are expected to cost more than $100 million, “in a mad dash by the White House to push through government actions affecting everything from furnaces to gun sales to Guantánamo.”

But if U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, have their way, then these rules are never going to see the light of day.

The pair recently introduced a bill (with Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., introducing a companion in the House) to “prevent a surge in costly federal regulations as a president’s term” ends. The Midnight Rule Relief Act aims to protect families, small businesses and industry from significant regulations that are most often politically motivated and imposed between Election Day and Inauguration Day, says a statement by Johnson, according to Watchdog.org.

“Presidents of both parties have ‎consistently attempted to push through regulations during the last few weeks and months of their administrations,” Johnson said. “This bill provides some basic accountability and ensures a president cannot impose a surge of new rules on the American economy as he exits office.”

As the New York Times reported in January 2001, President Bill Clinton’s administration pushed the Federal Register, the official recorder of all government activities, to publish 7,371 pages of rules, proclamations and executive orders in the first three weeks of 2001.

But regardless of political party, so-called midnight regulations have increased appreciably during the transition time between new administrations, Johnson’s office said in the statement, in a president’s final bid to leave his mark on the country.

However, Obama’s penchant for creating what is essentially higher and more expensive barriers to freedom and liberty is particularly galling. The American Action Forum estimated recently that since Obama took office in January 2009, his administration has issued some $600 billion in new regulatory red tape.

• More: New Labor Dept. rule could cost savers at least $80 billion

If the legislation somehow passes over Obama’s expected veto, it would:

— Establish a moratorium period beginning on the day after the election through the inauguration on new regulations that cost the economy $100 million or more annually, or result in major cost or price increases for consumers, industries, or government agencies.

— Include exceptions for rules that are necessary for imminent health or safety threats, enforcement of criminal laws, and national security.

— Exempt rules that are limited to repealing existing regulations.

Democrats have also introduced similar legislation. During the final months of the George W. Bush presidency, then-Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York introduced bills to stop Bush’s midnight regulations.

Interestingly, there is a way already for Congress to buck overzealous, over-regulating presidents: the Congressional Review Act. But it’s only ever been successfully used one time, and is now practically worthless, given the fact that any resolutions of disapproval passed by Congress are still subject to veto by the president.

Still, finding a way to limit actions by the so-called Administrative Branch – a pseudo-fourth branch of government that is essentially controlled by the Executive Branch, whose regulations and rules have the effect of law – ought to be a priority for both parties in Congress, as a means of re-asserting its traditional lawmaking role.

See also:

The Hill

Watchdog.org

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