By Lydia Wheeler – 04/01/17 01:36 PM EDT at The Hill   

The window for Republicans to roll back Obama-era rules is closing.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has a brief period of time to quickly revoke regulations passed in the final months of Barack Obama’s administration.

The deadline to introduce resolutions of disapproval on Obama rules elapsed Thursday, according to regulatory experts and a post on the Senate Republican Policy Committee’s website.

The GOP now has about five weeks to vote on the regulations previously introduced for repeal under CRA.

Since the start of the new Congress, Republicans have used this obscure law from 1996 to repeal 13 regulations that were finalized between June 13, 2016 and January 3, 2017.

Of those, President Trump has so far signed eight into law. Before Trump took office, the CRA had only successfully been used once before, in 2001.

Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress have vowed to roll back Obama regulations, particularly those dealing with the environment and financial reform, as well as overhaul the regulatory process.

“The president will continue to work with Congress and the rest of the federal government until every unnecessary regulation that stands in the way of success for American business and American people is taken off the books,” press secretary Sean Spicer said before Trump signed off on several CRA-passed rollbacks.

The CRA gives Congress 60 legislative days to repeal a rule after it’s been finalized. Under the legislative calendar, that means Congress has until approximately May 9 to vote on resolutions overturning rules – but the deadline to actually introduce resolutions was up on March 30.

The time frame for introducing resolutions is tighter, running on a 60 “days of continuous session” window.

According to a November 2016 report from Congressional Research Service, every calendar day is counted in that 60-day window, including weekends and holidays, unless the House, Senate or both have been out for more than three days.

Health, safety and consumer advocates are now breathing a sigh of relief.