Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined the recently introduced Stop Corporate Capture Act after the Supreme Court—stacked with Trump-appointed justices—overturned the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine. The bill codifies Chevron deference and strengthens the rulemaking process to block corporations from hijacking our government.
“This MAGA Supreme Court’s decision to overturn 40 years of legal precedent is a direct assault on government ‘of, by, and for the people,’ and shows who the Court really works for—the privileged and the powerful,” Merkley said. “The Stop Corporate Capture Act restores the Chevron doctrine and reforms the federal rulemaking process to protect consumers, workers, health care, and our environment. We must pass our bill to level the playing field and ensure our government puts people first, not giant corporations.”
“Once again, the right-wing Supreme Court handed corporations the outcome they wanted on a silver platter,” Wyden said. “When the futures of so many are threatened by rising prices and special interests, this legislation would return power to the people and ensure that the federal rulemaking process helps Americans, not corporate pocketbooks.”
The Chevron doctrine acknowledged that courts should give deference to agency experts to write rules and regulations in order to implement laws passed by Congress. The Supreme Court’s overturning of Chevron deference undermines government agencies’ ability to promote worker safety, ensure clean air and water, and protect consumers.
The federal rulemaking process is how government agencies implement and enforce the law. Currently, industry-backed lobbyists hold more negotiating power in the regulatory process than the general public. They schedule private meetings with regulators, fund sham scientific studies to submit with public comments, and misrepresent the negative impact of stricter regulatory oversight. These actions slow down the enforcement of important regulations, and the American people pay the price.
The Stop Corporate Capture Act codifies the Chevron doctrine and reforms the regulatory process to end corporations’ influence over the rulemaking process, prioritize scientific and public integrity, and reduce delays in implementation of laws. The bill was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) in 2021.
The Stop Corporate Capture Act would:
Protect the Chevron Doctrine
- Codify Chevron deference, allowing expert agencies to conduct rulemaking in line with their reasonable interpretation of their authorizing statutes.
Modernize and Reform the Regulatory Process
- Streamline the White House’s review period for regulations, creating a 120-day time limit for review.
- Authorize agencies to reinstate rules that are rescinded by Congress through the Congressional Review Act.
- Reform agencies’ cost-benefit analysis to emphasize public benefits of a rule, including non-quantifiable benefits like promoting human dignity, securing child safety, and preventing discrimination.
Empower and Expand Public Participation in Rulemaking
- Create an Office of the Public Advocate to help members of the public participate more effectively in regulatory proceedings.
- Strengthen agency procedures for notifying the public about pending rulemakings.
- Provide the public with greater authority to hold agencies accountable for unreasonable delays in completing rules.
- Require agencies to respond to citizen petitions for rulemaking that contain 100,000 or more signatures.
Increase Transparency and Protect Independent Expertise in Rulemaking
- Require all rulemaking participants to disclose industry-funded research or other related conflicts of interest.
- Require any submitted scientific or other technical research that raises a specified corporate conflict of interest be made available for independent public review.
- Bring transparency to the White House regulatory review process by requiring disclosure of changes to draft rules during that process and the source of those changes.
- Require agency officials to provide justification when the regulatory review process ends with a rule being withdrawn.
- Establish financial penalties for corporate special interests that knowingly submit false information during the rulemaking process.
The Stop Corporate Capture Act is led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and was cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
“Giant corporations are using far-right, unelected judges to hijack our government and undermine the will of Congress,” said Senator Warren. “The Stop Corporate Capture Act will bring transparency and efficiency to the federal rulemaking process, and most importantly, will make sure corporate interest groups can’t substitute their preferences for the judgment of Congress and the expert agencies.”
“Many Americans are taught in civics classes that Congress passes a law and that’s it, but the reality is that any major legislation enacted must also be implemented and enforced by the dedicated, nonpartisan experts at our public agencies to become a reality,” said Congresswoman Jayapal. “Too often, this process is driven by corporate lobbyists and special interests who know exactly how to make these processes benefit their bottom lines at the cost of public interest. Our Stop Corporate Capture Act couldn’t be more critical after the extreme, conservative Supreme Court stripped the ability of governmental agencies to implement and enforce passed laws. I am proud to lead this bill, which will level the playing field and ensure that laws passed for the people actually work for the people.”
“The Stop Corporate Capture Act is a comprehensive blueprint for modernizing, improving, and strengthening the regulatory system to better protect the public,” said Rachel Weintraub, executive director of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards. “The bill would restore Chevron deference, ensuring that courts defer to agencies as long as their interpretation of an ambiguous statute is reasonable. The bill would enhance our government’s ability to deliver results for workers, consumers, public health, and our environment and would level the playing field so that people – not just big corporations – can weigh in on potential rules that affect them.”
“The Loper Bright decision severely undermined the ability of expert federal agencies and Congress to address our most pressing environmental and health challenges, and instead, transferred an inordinate amount of power to judges who lack the profound understanding needed to craft federal regulations,” said Earthjustice Vice President of Policy and Legislation Raúl García. “This bill rightly remedies an egregious power grab from the U.S. Supreme Court while creating a more transparent and equitable federal rulemaking process. We thank Senators for fighting to ensure that expert federal agencies have the power and mandate to protect the people who need these protections the most, not greedy corporations concerned more about their profits.”
Endorsing Organizations:
Coalition for Sensible Safeguards; AFL-CIO; AFT; American Atheists; American Bird Conservancy; American Economic Liberties Project; American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees; Americans for Financial Reform; Asbestos Disease Awareness Org; CAARMA Consumer Advocates Against Reverse Mortgage Abuse; Center for Auto Safety; Center for Digital Democracy; Center for Economic Justice; Center For Food Safety; Center for Justice & Democracy; Center for Progressive Reform; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Clean Air Council; Coalition for Sensible Safeguards; Colorado Fiscal Institute; Consumer Action; Consumer Federation of America; Consumer Federation of California; Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety; Cultivating Lives Educational Services, Inc; Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, Inc.; Earthjustice; Endangered Species Coalition; Economic Policy Institute; GenDemocracy; Stop the Coup 2025 campaign to stop Project 2025; Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union; Good Jobs First; Government Information Watch; GreenLatinos; Greenpeace USA; Impact Fund; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility; International Center for Technology Assessment; Interfaith Power & Light; International Union; United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW); Jobs to Move America; Kettle Range Conservation Group; Kids In Danger; Lawyers for Good Government; League of Conservation Voters; National Association of Consumer Advocates; National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients); National Employment Law Project; National Health Law Program; New Jersey Association on Correction; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; Oregon Consumer Justice; People Power United; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Public Citizen; Public Justice Center; Rise Economy; Sierra Club; Small Business Majority; South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; Southern Environmental Law Center; Texas Appleseed; The Conservation Angler; 20/20 Vision; Union of Concerned Scientists; Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice; United Steelworkers; U.S. PIRG; Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; VOICE (Voices Organized in Civic Engagement); WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Zero Hour.
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