The 1996 Congressional Review Act (CRA) authorizes Congress to veto federal agency rules, allowing direct congressional oversight over certain executive branch actions. It has three main components. First, the CRA authorizes Congress to veto a rule before it takes effect using a joint resolution of disapproval signed by the president. Second, it prevents courts from reviewing actions that occur under the CRA. And third, if a joint resolution passes, it prohibits an agency from promulgating a rule “in substantially the same form” in the future. Until recently — once before 2017, 16 times in 2017, and three times in 2021 — Congress rarely used the CRA.  However, in 2025, Congress used it 22 times and in new ways that raise questions about congressional authority, agency discretion, and judicial oversight.

This analysis discusses some of the legal and practical questions that arise when Congress uses the CRA to veto a rule: Which agency actions are subject to the CRA? What is a court’s role in interpreting the CRA or governing its use? And how does the CRA change an agency’s options when promulgating rules in the future?

Those questions are explored through three examples where Congress used the CRA in 2025: (1) Disapproval of four Department of the Interior Resource Management Plans; (2) Disapproval of three California waivers under the Clean Air Act; and (3) EPA’s Waste Emission Charge rule where Congress disapproved a rule implementing a new program created by the Inflation Reduction Act.