The GOP is using an obscure law to quietly repeal five major Obama-era regulations

In government, there are ways to make a splash and ways to quietly get things done.

President Trump made a splash Monday with an executive order requiring that for every new regulation in the Federal Register, two get rolled back. The idea's got a certain rhythm to it, but its exact impact is still unclear.

It's not easy for a president to simply roll back a regulation once it's made its way through a public "notice and comment" period and onto the Federal Register.

Congress, however, has powers the president does not. And the Republican majority there is taking full advantage of them.

Using a 1996 law known as the Congressional Review Act, Republicans are in the middle of rolling major Obama-era regulations with little in the way of public attention.

The Congressional Review Act gives Congress the power to undo "recently finalized" regulations with just a simple majority vote in the House and Senate, and then the president's signature. Right now, that means the GOP can unravel any Obama-era regulation finalized since June 2016.

Theoretically, as Brad Plumer notes over at Vox, that could put more than 50 regulations on the chopping block. But it's rare for Congress and the President to use the law at all. In fact, it's only been used once before, under President George W. Bush, to repeal a Clinton-era ergonomics rule.

Right now, Congress is targeting five. And there's good reason to think more might come later. But here are the rules set to disappear this week: