That's interesting. But wouldn't it be better to pass a law to do this, rather than relying an executive agency's regulations, which may change at their will and be interpreted as they please each time the government changes hands?
That's true - these things might be better implemented as regulations out of the Executive branch - but that would still require legislation authorizing somebody to implement the regulations.
If the government could do that it would mean that legislators were elected that passed such a law. It's not a credible hypothetical, IMO. And even if it were, there would be recourse in the form of electing different legislators at the next opportunity.
This would not be a law, and an agency cannot issue laws as it goes directly against the constitution. This would be a regulation, which is specifically the purpose of Federal Agencies. It is onerous, slow, and ineffective to have congress pass small laws for every little thing that needs to be regulated. Instead Congress creates agencies with a charter defining the scope of what they have purview over, and the agency then creates regulations on what it deems fit. These can be challenged in federal court, which is specifically what I've been mentioning
I think executive orders could fit the bill. Also, there's existing legislation which already covers that matter. Plus, you can add a limit to the delay of a bill if it's for the necessity of govt operations like appropriation bills.
A quick google suggests the government has done this before, (Executive Orders 10479, 11246). Admittedly I've done very little reading around the subject, so I'm unsure if it's relevant in this context or not, but figure it's worth adding to the conversation in case it is. Please shoot it down if it's not!
While I'm not in favour of legislating something like that, because I think it would be extreme government overreach, if that were to just happen magically I would be hard pressed to find the problem.
I'm not sure. Every large enough system ends up needing a lot of boilerplate to tune it to work correctly. I think if such a law existed most decisions would go through the (non-elected) supreme court or some independent autarchys than through congress, and what would be sunseted each four years would be the statements creating such institutions.
Yes, put this in the hands of the same bureaucrats that allow this sort of thing to happen without penalty in the first place. That sounds like a fantastic idea.
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