I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 395 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require agencies to respond to 

comments from congressional committees about proposed rulemaking, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2019 

Mr. MULLIN (for himself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. 

WESTERMAN, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. COLE, and Mr. LUCAS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require agencies 

to respond to comments from congressional committees 

about proposed rulemaking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Overreach 

5 Within the Executive Rulemaking System Act of 2019’’ 

6 or the ‘‘POWERS Act of 2019’’. 


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•HR 395 IH

1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING AGENCY RESPONSE TO COMMENTS 

2 FROM CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES ABOUT 

3 PROPOSED RULEMAKING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 553(c) of title 5, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘After notice’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘(1) After notice’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) No publication or service of a rule may be made 

10 during the period beginning on the date of the publication 

11 of a notice of proposed rulemaking under subsection (b) 

12 with respect to such rule and ending on the date that is 

13 60 days after such date of publication, subject to para14 graph (3). 

15 ‘‘(3)(A) With respect to a rule, if a committee of the 

16 House of Representatives or the Senate that has jurisdic17 tion under the Rules of the House of Representatives or 

18 the Senate, respectively, over the provision of law that au19 thorizes the agency to issue the rule submits written data, 

20 views, or arguments to the head of the agency through 

21 electronic mail and physical mail during the period de22 scribed in paragraph (2), not later than 10 days after the 

23 date of such submission, the head of the agency shall pub24 lish in the Federal Register a response that addresses the 

25 content of such submission and answers any questions 

26 posed in such submission. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The period beginning on the date of such sub2 mission and ending on the date of such publication (or 

3 a notification under paragraph (4)(B)) shall not count as 

4 part of the period described in paragraph (2). 

5 ‘‘(4) Paragraph (3)(A) shall not apply with respect 

6 to a subsequent submission with respect to a rule to the 

7 head of an agency under such paragraph by a committee 

8 that has made an initial submission to such head and re9 ceived a response under such paragraph if the head— 

10 ‘‘(A) determines that such subsequent submis11 sion— 

12 ‘‘(i) fails to address the content of such re13 sponse; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) raises issues that were not raised in 

15 the initial submission or the response; and 

16 ‘‘(B) notifies the committee of such determina17 tion.’’. 

18 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

19 section shall apply with respect to a rule for which the 

20 notice of proposed rulemaking is published under section 

21 553(b) of title 5, United States Code, on or after the date 

22 of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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