Congressional Review Act
Definition
The Congressional Review Act lets Congress overturn a recently issued federal rule through a joint resolution of disapproval, using fast-track Senate procedures that bypass the filibuster. If signed by the president, the rule dies and the agency cannot issue a "substantially similar" rule without new legislative authority.
Why it matters
The CRA's 60-legislative-day lookback window means it is mainly usable right after a change in party control of the White House and Congress, letting a new majority erase the outgoing administration's late-term regulations in bulk with only a simple majority vote. The "substantially similar" bar on reissuing a rule is untested and vague enough that agencies often avoid touching related topics for years afterward.
Seen in the wild
In the first four months of his second term, President Trump signed 14 CRA resolutions of disapproval into law. As of December 2025, the CRA had been used to repeal 42 rules total, 22 of them during Trump's second administration.1