On Wednesday, February 1, 2017, the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a joint resolution of disapproval of the SEC’s resource extraction rule. This resolution is provided for under the Congressional Review Act and was introduced by Capital Markets, Securities and Investment Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-MI).

According to a press release, the SEC’s rule, mandated by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, puts American public companies at a competitive disadvantage to their foreign competitors, especially state-owned foreign corporations in countries like China and Russia. The SEC rule is a politically motivated mandate that the SEC’s Acting Chairman said is “largely contrary to the [SEC’s] core mission.”

The Congressional Review Act is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress as section 251 of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996, also known as the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. The law empowers Congress to review, by means of an expedited legislative process, new federal regulations issued by government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule a regulation. Congress is given 60 legislative days to disapprove, after which the rule will go into effect.

For the regulation to be invalidated, the Congressional resolution of disapproval either must be signed by the President, or must be passed over the President’s veto by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress.