WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation today announced the launch of a new initiative by Heritage scholars to help the conservative movement fight back against the administrative state. 

A new landing page on Heritage’s website will aggregate all recent comments submitted by Heritage Foundation scholars on proposed rules and regulations at federal agencies. Those comments will serve as guidelines for other organizations and individuals to use in crafting and submitting their own comments. 

Congress requires federal agencies to solicit the public’s views in the form of comments before they issue new regulations. Agencies must then review, analyze, and respond to those comments. When commenters point out a legal defect in a rule, the agency must change the rule or stop the rulemaking altogether—or run the risk of having its regulation struck down in court. The commenting process is an important way for Americans to provide a check on agency exercises of authority and hold agencies to the standards Congress sets for them in statute. 

Paul Ray, director of Heritage’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and former “regulations czar” during the Trump administration, released the following statement about Heritage’s efforts:  

“Far too much of our nation’s policy today is set through federal regulations. Heritage has long been one of the strongest voices in Washington for returning authority to those to whom it belongs: Congress, the states, and the American people.   

 

“While we continue to press for much-needed reforms to the regulatory system, it is vital that conservatives engage that system as it exists today. We must provide the arguments and data that can serve as checks on aggressive uses of agency authority. I’m thrilled that Heritage scholars are contributing their policy and legal expertise to this critical effort, and I encourage all Americans to let the agencies know their views on important regulations through the comment process.” 

Just this week, Heritage scholars filed public comments on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s radical new climate rule that would force American companies to comply with the Biden administration’s environmental agenda, will supercharge inflation, and threaten the viability of thousands of small businesses. Heritage Action launched a corresponding toolkit, “Block Biden’s Climate Regulation,” generating thousands of additional comments on the rule.