A joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA is the specific piece of legislation Congress uses to strike down a federal agency rule, following a script the statute itself sets out. If both chambers pass it and the President signs it, the targeted rule loses all legal force and the agency is permanently barred from issuing a substantially similar rule without new authorization from Congress.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC Chapter 8 – Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking The Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 801–808) created the tool in 1996, and while it sat mostly unused for two decades, more than 20 resolutions were signed into law in 2025 alone.2Congress.gov. The Congressional Review Act (CRA): A Brief Overview
The Exact Language the Statute Requires
There is no room for creative drafting. The CRA prescribes the operative text of the resolution word for word: “That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the [agency name] relating to [rule name], and such rule shall have no force or effect.”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 802 – Congressional Disapproval Procedure The blanks are filled with the official agency name and the rule’s formal title as it appears in the Federal Register or the agency’s submission report.
Members of Congress cannot modify this language, add conditions, or attach policy riders. A resolution that departs from the prescribed form loses access to the CRA’s fast-track procedures and becomes ordinary legislation, subject to the filibuster and every other tool that normally slows a bill down. That constraint is the price of the speed the CRA otherwise offers.
The 60-Day Window to Act
Congress has 60 calendar days to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval, measured from the later of two dates: when the agency submits its required report to Congress or when the rule is published in the Federal Register. Days when either chamber is adjourned for more than three days do not count.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 802 – Congressional Disapproval Procedure The Senate then gets a separate 60-session-day action period during which the fast-track floor procedures are available.
A separate lookback provision matters for timing. If a rule is submitted too late in a congressional session for the review period to run before adjournment, the next Congress gets a fresh 60-day window, calculated as though the rule had been submitted on the 15th day of the new term.4EveryCRSReport.com. August 19, 2025, Is Estimated to Be the Beginning of the Congressional Review Act Lookback Period This is why waves of CRA disapprovals tend to cluster at the start of a new presidency when the incoming party also controls Congress.
Fast-Track Procedures in the Senate
The CRA’s real power lives in the Senate. Once a properly drafted resolution is introduced, it goes first to the committee with jurisdiction. If that committee fails to report it within 20 calendar days, any 30 senators can sign a discharge petition and pull the resolution straight to the floor.5Administrative Conference of the United States. Congressional Review Act Basics A committee chair cannot bury it.
On the floor, total debate is capped at 10 hours, split evenly between supporters and opponents. No amendments are permitted. No motions to recommit, postpone, or move to other business are allowed.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 802 – Congressional Disapproval Procedure Because cloture is unnecessary to close debate, the resolution passes or fails on a simple majority vote. There is no 60-vote threshold and no filibuster.
The House has no equivalent fast-track machinery. It processes disapproval resolutions through its regular procedures, though in practice the House tends to move quickly once the Senate acts.
Presidential Signature, Veto, and Override
A joint resolution of disapproval is legislation, not a symbolic gesture, so it follows the ordinary constitutional path once both chambers pass it. The President has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto. A signature kills the rule immediately.
A veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers. That bar is high enough that the CRA has effectively worked only when the same party holds Congress and the White House, or when cross-party support is unusually deep. No CRA veto override has ever succeeded.
What a Successful Disapproval Does
The consequences reach further than simply stopping the rule going forward. The statute treats a disapproved rule as though it “had never taken effect.”7GovInfo. 5 USC Chapter 8 – Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking That retroactive nullification erases any legal obligations the rule imposed during whatever brief window it was on the books. Regulated parties who rushed to comply can be left uncertain about the standing of steps they already took.
The Permanent Bar on Substantially Similar Rules
The more lasting consequence is what the agency loses. Once a rule is disapproved, the agency cannot reissue that rule or adopt a new one that is substantially the same, unless Congress passes a separate law specifically authorizing it.7GovInfo. 5 USC Chapter 8 – Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking This prohibition has no expiration date. A rule struck down in 2001 remains off-limits today absent fresh congressional authorization.
What counts as “substantially the same” has never been decided by a court. The CRA does not define the phrase, and no agency has tested the boundary by issuing a rule that might cross the line. The only interpretive guidance is a joint statement the CRA’s Senate sponsors submitted to the Congressional Record about a month after the law was enacted, and because it was drafted after the fact, courts may not give it much weight. The ambiguity has a chilling effect: agencies steer well clear of the line because no one knows exactly where it sits.
What Courts Can and Cannot Review
Section 805 of the CRA bars judicial review of any determination, finding, action, or omission made under the statute.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 805 – Judicial Review If an agency skips a filing deadline, or if Congress arguably acts outside its window, no court will step in.
The bar does not extend to enforcing the results. Once signed by the President, a joint resolution of disapproval becomes federal law, and a court with jurisdiction can interpret that law, including whether a later agency rule crosses the “substantially the same” line. Courts cannot police the CRA process, but they can enforce what a completed disapproval accomplished.
When the Tool Actually Gets Used
For its first two decades the CRA was mostly a curiosity. Only one successful disapproval was enacted between 1996 and 2016, overturning a Clinton-era workplace ergonomics rule in 2001. The picture changed in 2017, when the new Congress used the lookback window to void 16 Obama-era regulations in quick succession.2Congress.gov. The Congressional Review Act (CRA): A Brief Overview Three more resolutions were enacted in 2021. In 2025, the 119th Congress broke every prior record, enacting more than 20 resolutions targeting Biden-era rules on subjects ranging from Bureau of Land Management resource plans to EPA emissions waivers for California.
The pattern is consistent. The joint resolution of disapproval does its heaviest work in the opening months of a new administration when the incoming president’s party controls Congress and the lookback window puts the outgoing administration’s final regulations back on the table. Outside that alignment, the presidential veto makes success nearly impossible, which is why rules finalized late in a presidency carry an inherent risk of retroactive nullification if the opposing party wins the next election.