Michael Regan is the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.  His job makes him a subset of the Executive Branch, but you'd never know that from his threat to Congress: if the legislators don't give him the legislation he wants, he'd go ahead and do what he wants without them.  This is a shocking usurpation of legislative authority, but it's par for the course in Biden's Washington, D.C.

When our Founders drafted the Constitution, they were excessively concerned lest one branch of government gain disproportionate power, turning into a tyranny.  The Constitution, therefore, spreads out power among the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Branches, with each institution checking the power of the two others.

However, in the ensuing 240 years, America gained something the Founders never imagined: an administrative state that, while ostensibly part of the Executive Branch, has also taken on the legislative powers of a lazy Congress that is big on showboating and small on doing the hard work of actually governing.  Most of the rules that burden Americans, whether individually or through their businesses, come from the uncontrolled, permanent, hard-left regulatory state.

I don't have access to the Washington Post, which wrote about Regan's ultimatum (giving it my money is an unpalatable thought), but I do have access to Daniel Greenfield's FrontPage Magazine blog post about this story.  He has quoted from the article, and its contents are shocking.  According to WaPo (which, you'll recall, is a fan of the Deep State, which helped get rid of WaPo's nemesis, Trump, and return to the White House Obama's Third Term):

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan says he's willing to wield broad regulatory power to enact President Biden's climate agenda if Congress fails to pass meaningful climate legislation. 

Think about that: the Constitution is quite clear about who, in the federal government, has sole legislative power.  Here it is, in Section 1 of Article I:

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

There's nothing ambiguous about that language.  Yet Michael Regan, a man no American elected, who's spent his entire life as a government functionary without a single experience in the private sector, has announced to Congress that he plans to usurp that institution's unique power.

And Regan's not talking about massaging some rules around the edges.  Oh, no.  He wants the whole enchilada, including a lot of taxpayer money and rules that will profoundly damage America's middle class:

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are debating a wide-ranging social spending bill that contains climate provisions aimed at slashing planet-warming pollution and boosting clean energy. But Democrats are battling over the price tag, and some climate provisions are bound to go. That doesn't faze Regan, who said the EPA's forthcoming regulations will help achieve Biden's overarching goal of reducing emissions 50 to 52 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

What Regan's proposing is entirely unconstitutional.  He's already conceded through his statements before Congress that making these changes is a legislative job.  If Regan unilaterally imposes expensive, economy-killing regulations, Republicans, once they regain control over Congress (and, at the rate Democrats are going, they will), should immediately impeach Regan under the terms of Art. II, Section 4 of the Constitution (emphasis mine):

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

After all, given that the EPA has no legislative authority — and Regan has already conceded that the authority for this matter rests with Congress — I can't think of anything that more perfectly represents a "serious dereliction of duty."

The sad thing is that we know that this will never happen.  Republicans love being in the opposition, which allows them to whine and collect money from angry voters.  However, once in power, the last time Republicans worked for Americans was Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, almost thirty years ago.  We know that if they do regain Congress, even if they have a supermajority, making impeaching the whole lawless administration possible, they'll do nothing at all.

Image: Michael Regan.  YouTube screen grab.

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