Many of you know this, but we’ve been getting questions on how did the Trump administration use the CRA to go after the Boundary Waters? Short answer is illegally.

The CRA was enacted in 1996 to give Congress a streamlined path to review and overturn federal agency actions. A resolution of disapproval only needs a simple majority in both chambers and can’t be filibustered, but Congress only has 60 legislative days from the submission of a federal action to use it.

The Boundary Waters mineral withdrawal was issued in January 2023. That’s three years ago. So how did Congress just vote to kill it now?

Here’s what they did. Republican lawmakers argued that the Interior never properly submitted the 2023 withdrawal to Congress as required under the CRA. What they left out is that Interior actually followed the required statute (FLPMA, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act) to the letter, including sending direct congressional correspondence to Rep. Stauber himself.

So the Trump Interior Department resubmitted it in January 2026 as a CRA-eligible rule, restarting the 60-day clock on a three-year-old decision and manufacturing eligibility, illegally.


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