For months, critics have been going after a federal rule issued earlier this year billed as expanding transmission planning and boosting access to renewable energy. Republicans allege that the rule is meant to is bypass Congress to deliver the Democratic Party’s clean energy agenda.

The rule was issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency formed in 1977 with the intent to regulate interstate transmission and wholesale prices for natural gas, oil, and electricity across the country. As part of its responsibilities for regulation, the FERC regularly issues orders regarding transmission planning, interconnection procedures, cost allocation and more.