(b) Severability of the legislative-veto provision here is supported by the Act's language and structure. Congress' intent that the EPP's firsthire provisions should survive in the absence of the legislative-veto provision is suggested strongly by the detailed affirmative duty the statute places directly on air carriers. The first-hire provisions scarcely need the adoption of regulations by the Secretary, and thus leave little of substance to be subject to a veto. The ancillary nature of the Secretary's obligations to implement the first-hire provisions is further evidence that Congress delegated only limited substantive discretion to the Secretary. Pp. 678-691.

(c) The legislative history of the EPP supports the conclusion that Congress would have enacted the duty-to-hire provisions even without a legislative-veto provision by revealing that Congress regarded labor protection as an important feature of the Act, while it paid scant attention to the legislative-veto provision. The emphasis during deliberations on the Act was placed overwhelmingly on the substantive provisions of the statute. Pp. 691-696.

247 U. S. App. D. C. 132, 766 F. 2d 1550, affirmed.

BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

William T. Coleman, Jr., argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Donald T. Bliss and John H. Beisner.

Deputy Solicitor General Cohen argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief for the federal respondents were Solicitor General Fried, Assistant Attorney General Willard, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Spears, Lawrence S. Robbins, and Douglas Letter. Gary Green, Eugene B. Granof, and George B. Dreisen filed a brief for respondent Air Line Pilots Association. Matthew H. Finucane filed a brief for respondent Association of Flight Attendants. William J. Birney and William G. Mahoney filed a brief for respondents Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks et al.*

*Robert M. Weinberg and Laurence Gold filed a brief for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations as amicus curiae urging affirmance.

JUSTICE BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court.

In INS v. Chadha, 462 U. S. 919 (1983), this Court held unconstitutional the congressional-veto provision in §244 (c)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 216, as amended, 8 U. S. C. § 1254(c)(2), and found it severable from the remainder of that Act. Petitioners, 14 commercial airlines, in the present case contend that provisions protecting employees in the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Act), 92 Stat. 1705 (codified at various sections of Title 49 U. S. C. App.), are ineffective because § 43(f)(3) of the Act, 92 Stat. 1752, 49 U. S. C. App. §1552(f)(3), similarly subjects to a legislative veto implementing regulations issued by the Department of Labor (DOL). We granted certiorari, 475 U. S. 1044 (1986), to consider whether that legislative-veto provision is severable from the remainder of the Act.

I

After 40 years of extensive regulation of the commercialairline industry by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), Congress in 1978 decided to make "a major change and fundamental redirection as to the manner of regulation of interstate and overseas air transportation so as to place primary emphasis on competition." S. Rep. No. 95-631, p. 52 (1978). Congress abandoned the industrywide fare structure gradually, §37(a), 49 U. S. C. App. § 1482(d); altered the procedures by which airlines could enter new markets, §§ 7 and 8, 49 U. S. C. App. §§ 1371(c) and (d); and phased out the regulatory power of the CAB, eliminating the agency altogether in 1984, § 40(a), 49 U. S. C. App. §§ 1551(a)(1)(A) and (a)(3).

Congress sought to ensure that the benefits to the public flowing from this deregulation would not be "paid for" by airline employees who had relied on the heavily regulated nature of the industry in deciding to accept and to retain positions with commercial air carriers. In order to assist employees dislocated as a result of deregulation, Congress enacted an Employee Protection Program (EPP) as § 43 of

the Act, 49 U. S. C. App. § 1552. The EPP provides for benefits, in the event of work force reductions, to "protected employees," who are defined as employees who had been employed by a certified carrier for at least four years as of October 24, 1978, the date the Act became effective. §§ 43(d) and (h)(1).

The first part of the EPP establishes a monthly compensation program. If an airline is forced to make severe work force reductions or to enter bankruptcy as a result of deregulation, furloughed or terminated eligible "protected employees" are entitled to federally provided monthly assistance payments. §§ 43(a)-(c), (e). The Secretary of Labor is directed to promulgate guidelines to be used in determining the amount of the monthly assistance payments. §43 (b)(1). The assistance, however, is expressly made "subject to such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts." §43 (a)(1). No funds have ever been appropriated and the assistance program has never become operative. It is not at issue here except insofar as it is relevant to the intent of Congress in providing a legislative veto.

The second portion of the EPP imposes on airlines certified under the prior regulatory system a "duty to hire" protected employees. If a protected employee is "furloughed or otherwise terminated," other than for cause, within 10 years of the enactment date of the statute, that employee has a "first right of hire, regardless of age, in his occupational specialty" with any carrier, covered by the section, who is "hiring additional employees." A hiring airline is permitted, however,

'A protected employee is "eligible" for monthly assistance if he has been deprived of employment or adversely affected with respect to compensation as a result of a "qualifying dislocation." Any employee terminated for cause is ineligible. § 43(a). A "qualifying dislocation" is a bankruptcy or "major contraction" of an air carrier previously certified by the CAB occurring during the first 10 complete calendar years following enactment of the Act, the major cause of which is the change in regulatory structure provided by the Act. § 43(h)(2). A major contraction is defined as a work force reduction of at least 72% within a 12-month period. § 43(h)(4).

first to recall any of its own previously furloughed employees. §43(d)(1). The Act also places on the Secretary the responsibility to assist protected employees in finding other employment and empowers the Secretary to require air carriers to file information necessary to provide this assistance. § 43(d)(2).

The Secretary "may issue, amend, and repeal such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the administration of [the EPP]." §43(f)(1). The Act provides that the rule containing the guidelines for monthly assistance payments and "any other rules or regulations which the Secretary deems necessary to carry out this section shall be promulgated within six months after October 24, 1978." §43(f)(2). Congress also included a "report and wait" provision, specifying that no final rule or regulation may be issued until 30 legislative days after it has been submitted to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation. § 43(f)(3). Finally, the EPP contains the legislative-veto provision which gave rise to this litigation. It declares that any final rule issued pursuant to § 43 shall be submitted to Congress and shall become effective after 60 legislative days, unless during that 60-day period either House of Congress adopts a resolution disapproving the rule. § 43(f)(3).2

II

Petitioners are certified carriers subject to the duty-to-hire provisions of the Act and to the regulations promulgated by the Secretary. They challenged the EPP in the United

If both Houses adopt an approval resolution during the 60-day period, the rule becomes effective immediately. §43(f)(3).

'The Act became law on October 24, 1978. In March 1979, the Secretary proposed regulations for both the financial-assistance and duty-to-hire provisions of the EPP. 44 Fed. Reg. 19146. Revised proposed regulations relating only to the duty to hire were published in September 1982. 47 Fed. Reg. 41304. The final rules were promulgated and submitted to

States District Court for the District of Columbia, contending that the legislative-veto provision in §43 is unconstitutional under Chadha, and that the entire program must be invalidated because the veto provision is nonseverable from the rest of the EPP. Respondent employee unions intervened on behalf of the Secretary. The District Court granted summary judgment for petitioners, striking down the entire EPP, but leaving the remainder of the Act intact. Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Donovan, 594 F. Supp. 92 (1984). It held the legislative-veto provision unconstitutional and ruled that it could not be severed from the EPP. Respondents appealed the finding of nonseverability. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed, holding that the legislative-veto clause is severable from the remainder of the EPP program. Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Donovan, 247 U. S. App. D. C. 132, 766 F. 2d 1550 (1985). We agree and affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals."

Congress in November 1983, 48 Fed. Reg. 52854, and but for this litigation would have become effective.

'The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the District Court for consideration of petitioners' remaining challenges to the DOL regulations. These are not at issue here. 247 U. S. App. D. C. 132, 137, 766 F. 2d 1550, 1565 (1985). The District Court sustained all but one of the regulations. 632 F. Supp. 178 (1986). It remanded to the Secretary "for further explanation" of the issue whether 29 CFR § 220.21(a)(1) (1986), dealing with the initial hiring age of flight officers and pilots, was valid in the light of the carriers' obligation to maintain air safety. 632 F. Supp., at 184. The Court of Appeals reversed in part. 258 U. S. App. D. C. 89, 809 F. 2d 930 (1987) (Table). In an unpublished memorandum it held that the remand of this issue was inappropriate because "Congress made it absolutely clear," § 43(d)(1), that the hiring preference should apply "regardless of age." The Court of Appeals remanded for agency clarification of a different issue: the scope of the exception to the duty to hire created by an equalopportunity agreement as established by 29 CFR §§ 220.29 and 220.01(j) (1986). With the exception of these provisions, the duty-to-hire regulations are now in force.

'Petitioners contend that the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction because the District Court held "an Act of Congress unconstitutional," which