Can congress constitutionally block administrative rules waiting to be passed?

Question

Say an admin.agency (FCC, for example) appeared to be passing rules that catered to special interest groups. Can congress constitutionally pass an act that says all rules issued by the FCC must be approved by congress before they are effective? If so, where in the constitution is support for this idea found?


Thanks!!

Answer 1

Article 2 says that the Executive branch administers the laws of congress. The practical aspects: either pass it in an act the president can not veto, or get enough support to override a veto, or congressmen can lobby an agency very effectively because they control the funding. The latter has been happening a lot more than usual I understand.

Answer 2

Congress has all of the legislative authority per Article I of the Constitution. Congress delegated some of that authority to the agencies. The agencies, in their rulemaking capacity, are using borrowed legislative authority to try to fill in the gaps left by the statutes themselves. The agency-made rules have to make reasonable choices in light of the statutory text.

BUT Congress retains the primary power to modify any statute that it has passed, and hence to moot or sweep away any administrative rule it doesn't like. The bottom line is, legislative authority begins and ends with Article I, and the agencies' rulemaking process is just a stopgap.

Answer 3

No they cannot that would violate the separation of powers....if an executive agency passes a regulation that congress does not like they will have to pass a law to supercede the regulation...or if the regulation was made pursuant to an interpretation of a law passed by Congress then a citizen with a appropriate case must sue.

Answer 4

Yes they can. It's their constitutional right under the Necessary and Proper Clause. That same clause is what gives Congress the right to make such agencies. Those agencies are part of the Legislative Branch.