I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 41 
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 3, 2017 
Mr. MULLIN (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. COLE, Mr. 
FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GOSAR, Mrs. LOVE, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. PALAZZO, 
Mr. RUSSELL, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. 
YOHO, and Mr. SMITH of Missouri) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Overreach 
Within the Executive Rulemaking System Act of 2017’’ 
or the ‘‘POWERS Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIRING AGENCY RESPONSE TO COMMENTS 
FROM CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES ABOUT 
PROPOSED RULEMAKING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 553(c) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘After notice’’ and inserting 
‘‘(1) After notice’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) No publication or service of a rule may be made 
during the period beginning on the date of the publication 
of a notice of proposed rulemaking under subsection (b) 
with respect to such rule and ending on the date that is 
60 days after such date of publication, subject to para-
graph (3). 
‘‘(3)(A) With respect to a rule, if a committee of the 
House of Representatives or the Senate that has jurisdic-
tion under the Rules of the House of Representatives or 
the Senate, respectively, over the provision of law that au-
thorizes the agency to issue the rule submits written data, 
views, or arguments to the head of the agency through 
electronic mail and physical mail during the period de-
scribed in paragraph (2), not later than 10 days after the 
date of such submission, the head of the agency shall pub-
lish in the Federal Register a response that addresses the 
content of such submission and answers any questions 
posed in such submission. 
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‘‘(B) The period beginning on the date of such sub-
mission and ending on the date of such publication (or 
a notification under paragraph (4)(B)) shall not count as 
part of the period described in paragraph (2). 
‘‘(4) Paragraph (3)(A) shall not apply with respect 
to a subsequent submission with respect to a rule to the 
head of an agency under such paragraph by a committee 
that has made an initial submission to such head and re-
ceived a response under such paragraph if the head— 
‘‘(A) determines that such subsequent submis-
sion— 
‘‘(i) fails to address the content of such re-
sponse; or 
‘‘(ii) raises issues that were not raised in 
the initial submission or the response; and 
‘‘(B) notifies the committee of such determina-
tion.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 
section shall apply with respect to a rule for which the 
notice of proposed rulemaking is published under section 
553(b) of title 5, United States Code, on or after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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