Everyone is familiar with “DOGE,” or the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” a commission that is being co-led by tech billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy.

DOGE is charged by Donald Trump to dismantle and restructure federal agencies, eliminate wasteful expenditures, identify fraudulent expenditures, and slash excess regulations. The commission’s work is to be completed by July 4, 2026.

This non-governmental commission will provide advice and guidance for efficiency recommendations while partnering with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget.

“A smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!” Trump said.

One aspect of this DOGE charge — slashing excess regulations — could receive a critical assist with the congressional passage of the REINS, or Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act.

The REINS Act would broaden the Congressional Review Act, signed into law in 1996, which establishes congressional procedures for overturning final rules issued by federal agencies. Before the first Trump administration, a George Washington University study found that Congress had used the CRA once to repeal a final rule, but the 115th Congress used the CRA to overturn 16 rules issued toward the end of the Barack Obama administration.

The REINS Act reasserts congressional legislative authority and prevents excessive overreach by the executive branch in the federal rulemaking process by requiring every new “major rule” proposed by federal agencies to be approved by both chambers before going into effect while also preserving Congress’s authority to disapprove of a “non-major rule” through a joint resolution. A “major rule” is defined as any federal rule that may result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; a major increase in costs or prices for consumers, individual industries, government industries, government agencies, or geographic regions; or significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or the ability of U.S.-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises.

With the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the Chevron Doctrine, Congress needs to develop its in-house regulatory expertise or this power over economic policy decisions will shift from the federal bureaucracy to unelected lawyers and the judiciary.

To meet this new charge, Congress should take note of the December 2023 report “Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal Counsel.” One option involves creating an entity, such as a Congressional Office of Regulatory Review, to act as a counterpart to the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which assesses and reports on issues and pending rules and performs additional oversight tasks. In 1998, during the 105th Congress, committees in the House and Senate passed bills that would create an Article I agency called the Congressional Office of Regulatory Affairs, but it did not receive sufficient support for enactment.

Republican lawmakers have introduced the REINS Act during every session of Congress since 2009 (previous versions of the REINS Act were identical), but to no avail. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Sen. Rand Paul,R-Ky., reintroduced the REINS Act in the 118th Congress with four additional provisions that would:

— Authorize individuals to “argue that the average person would not have known their actions violated federal law if the (statute) did not clearly state it” during agency enforcement proceedings.

–Authorize individuals to file a lawsuit against the enforcement of any agency rule and allow courts to invalidate the rule or classify it as a major rule subject to the REINS Act.

–Require congressional approval of agency guidance (not just rules) with an economic impact of $100 million or more.

–Exempt deregulatory agency actions from the congressional approval requirement.

Unlike the CRA, which allows Congress the option to revoke a rule, the new, improved REINS Act requires Congress to affirm these high economic impact agency guidance documents before they are issued by a federal agency. Moreover, the new exemption for deregulatory actions from congressional approval tracks nicely with the DOGE charge of eliminating excessive regulation. This enhanced REINS Act needs to be re-introduced and passed in both chambers. The DOGE and the REINS Act will indeed be “perfect together.”

Thomas A. Hemphill is David M. French Distinguished professor of strategy, innovation and public policy in the School of Management, University of Michigan-Flint. He wrote this for InsideSoures.com.