By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have asked all federal agencies to begin reviews of regulations that could be affected by a recent Supreme Court ruling overturning a legal precedent known as " Chevron (NYSE:CVX) deference," in letters released on Wednesday.
Three House committees - Agriculture, Oversight, and Education and Workforce - targeted agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor in what the chamber's No. 2 Republican, Steve Scalise, called a "fight to free the American people from the power-hungry administrative state."
The letters follow a Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the so-called Chevron deference. The latter refers to a 1984 precedent involving oil company Chevron that gave government experts the final say in how laws passed by Congress should be interpreted.
Conservatives have insisted for decades that the ruling gave too much power to government bureaucrats over elected lawmakers.
The letters from the three committees' chairs requested lists of existing regulations that were challenged in court and upheld based on the Chevron deference, as well as pending rules that could have been defended using the Chevron deference.
The chairs also asked for a list of rules that could have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, a "major increase in costs or prices for consumers," or "significant adverse effects" on competition and employment, among other factors.
The requests could provide a road map for conservative activists to sue agencies over specific regulations.
Michael Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, told the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that the court's decision "hits the EPA extremely hard."