WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Eric Schmitt in an effort to retake legislative authority from the Executive branch following the recent Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which reinforced the separation of powers in the United States government and curbed the abuse of the administrative state by overruling the Court’s Chevron precedent. Read more about the effort in Fox News HERE.

As part of this effort, Senator Scott, Senator Schmitt and their colleagues are establishing a Senate working group that will meet regularly to assess how the U.S. Senate can better operate and conduct administrative oversight following the decision in Loper Bright to prevent further abuses of power by rogue Executive agencies. 

As the first step, Senator Scott, Senator Schmitt and their colleagues are sending oversight letters to 101 agencies that have published over 50 final rules since the year 2000. In the letters, the Senators are seeking more information on ongoing rulemaking, civil enforcement actions, and adjudications by the agencies and how the Loper Bright decision impacts all of those actions moving forward, so that the Senators can better conduct oversight over those agencies. The Senators’ recent letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra can be found HERE.

Senator Rick Scott said, “For too long, the Chevron Doctrine fueled an abandonment of our separation of powers by allowing the Executive to write and interpret the law as it saw fit. The recent Supreme Court decision reaffirmed the separation of powers and reinforced the constitutional roles played in our federal government: Congress writes the law, the Executive enforces the law, and the Judiciary interprets the law. I’m proud to join my colleagues in this effort to return power to the people through representative government.”

Senator Eric Schmitt said, “The Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright was a critical blow to the disastrous Chevron deference standard and represents an opportunity to Congress to retake legislative power from agencies and dismantle the administrative state. For far too long, the deck has been stacked against citizens while these all-powerful alphabet soup agencies run roughshod. Congress has abdicated its duty to legislate to nameless and faceless bureaucrats at agencies dotted around D.C. – it’s time to take that power back and return to a truly representative government. I’m proud to lead my colleagues in working to continue to dismantle the administrative state following the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright.”

BACKGROUND

Senator Scott is joining the Post-Chevron working group, led by Senator Schmitt, which will regularly meet to discuss how to assess the monumental decision in Loper Bright, how to best limit the unlawful exercise of power by the administrative state, and how the Senate can more effectively legislate on matters that regularly would’ve been left up to agency deference. This group also includes John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Thune (R-SD), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Senator Scott is also joining Senator Schmitt’s effort to send letters to 101 agencies that have published over 50 final rules since the year 2000. Those agencies will include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Transportation, and many others. In the letters, the Senators will ask for more information on ongoing rulemaking, civil enforcement actions, and adjudications by said agencies and how the Loper Bright decision impacts all of those actions moving forward, so that the Senators can better conduct oversight over those agencies. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rand Paul (R-KY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and John Thune (R-SD) all joined these letters.

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