Public Citizen Applauds CRA to Rescind HHS SUNSET Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) today introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) SUNSET rule. The rule would automatically remove thousands of existing public health measures, including regulations governing Medicaid, pharmaceuticals, food, children, and civil rights in health care. The rule also would weaken regulatory enforcement and make it nearly impossible for HHS to issue strong new rules to address public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Matt Kent, regulatory policy associate for Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“Public Citizen applauds Rep. Krishnamoorthi’s move to rescind the Trump-era SUNSET rule at HHS. If left in place, this rule would force HHS into an impossible choice: the agency could either review thousands of existing, effective public health protections every year, requiring dozens of full-time staff and at the cost of millions of dollars annually, or allow those health protections to automatically expire or ‘sunset.’ Tying up HHS in needless busywork is never a good idea, but now is the worst possible moment for the agency to be distracted from focusing all its attention on fighting the pandemic.”