New Emergency Act Forces Presidents to Get Congressional OK Within 20 Days, Caps Emergencies at 5 Years

This bill, the National Emergencies Reform Act of 2025, is a major shakeup of how the government handles national emergencies. Think of it as installing a very tight leash on the President’s emergency powers. Essentially, it replaces the old, open-ended rules with a strict system requiring immediate, fast-track congressional approval for any new emergency declaration or the use of specific powers associated with it. The clock starts ticking immediately: an emergency is temporary—only lasting 20 session days in the Senate or 20 legislative days in the House—unless Congress passes a joint resolution to approve it. If Congress doesn't sign off, the emergency dies, and the President is barred from re-declaring an emergency under the same circumstances for the rest of their term (SEC. 2).

The 20-Day Countdown and the Sunset Clause

For the average person, this means emergency declarations can no longer become permanent fixtures of American life. Under the old system, emergencies could drag on for decades, renewed annually with little fanfare. Now, Congress has to approve the declaration and, crucially, approve the specific powers the President wants to use within that initial 20-day window. If the President wants to use emergency funds to build a wall or redirect specific resources, Congress has to explicitly vote yes on that power (SEC. 2). Even if approved, no new national emergency can last longer than five years, total. For existing, long-running emergencies, they must terminate within two to five years of this bill becoming law, depending on how long they’ve been active. This is a massive change designed to prevent emergency powers from becoming a permanent workaround for normal legislative action.

No More Emergency Slush Funds

One of the biggest real-world impacts is the crackdown on how emergency money is spent. Under the new rules, the President can’t use emergency authority to fund or authorize any program that Congress has specifically refused to fund after the events that triggered the emergency. If Congress zeroed out a specific budget line item, the President can’t use emergency powers to resurrect it (SEC. 2). Furthermore, the President must now include a detailed report in the annual budget submission that breaks down all emergency spending by fund account, describing the program, the legal authority used, and the goal of the spending. If money is shifted or reprogrammed, that transfer must also be reported, including which programs lost funding because of the move (SEC. 3). This is a huge win for transparency and accountability, making it much harder to hide where emergency dollars are actually going.

Bringing Secret Plans Out of the Shadows

In a move that should interest anyone concerned about government transparency, the bill forces the disclosure of “presidential emergency action documents.” These are essentially pre-planned, secret legal documents that outline how the executive branch would act during various crises. Within 30 days of approving or changing one of these plans, the President must send it to the appropriate congressional oversight and intelligence committees (SEC. 4). This ensures that Congress—and by extension, the public—is aware of the government’s emergency playbook before a crisis hits, rather than learning about sweeping new powers only after they’ve been deployed.

The Trade-Off: Speed vs. Scrutiny

While the bill dramatically increases oversight, it achieves this through a new, fast-track Congressional review process. To ensure Congress votes quickly on approval or termination resolutions, the rules are set up to bypass normal Senate procedures (like the filibuster) and limit debate time significantly. Here’s the catch: these resolutions cannot be amended (SEC. 2). This means Congress has to vote yes or no on the entire package—the emergency declaration and the specific powers attached—without the ability to tweak or refine the provisions. It’s a trade-off: faster oversight, but less detailed legislative scrutiny. Finally, keep an eye on the exception carved out for emergencies that only use powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA); those are grandfathered under the old, less restrictive rules, potentially limiting the immediate impact of this reform on long-standing economic sanctions.