Blog
Legislators should increase entrance fees to fund national parks
On August 4, 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) was signed into law. Among other things, the law funnels up to 50 percent…
Representative Harriett Hageman
Rep. Hageman Targets Agency Overreach with Two New Judicial Reform Bills
Representative Hageman features statement from CEI Fred L. Smith Fellow Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. on two new reform bills. “Rep. Hageman’s new legislative proposals…
Washington Times
Inflation rises again, driven by energy costs amid Iran war
The Washington Times cites Finance and Monetary Policy Analyst Steve Swedberg on inflation and rising costs: “The economic data provide little support for lower interest…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Taxing the rich with Jared Walczak
In this week’s episode we cover America’s low-income churn, reforms to civil asset forfeiture, changes to vehicle emissions testing, a shout…
Fox News
Either ignore climate change lunacy or high energy prices will make you wish you had
Congressional Republicans spent four years opposing the Biden administration’s energy policies, asserting that they raised prices from the gas pump to our utility bills. Now…
News Release
AICOA’s heavy-handed approach would harm consumers, stifle innovation, and degrade security and privacy
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) re-introduced a modified version of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), which introduces new regulations…
Blog
BEAD and the cost of conditions
Last month the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Nebraska had connected one of the first households in the country to broadband…
News Release
Labor-supported bill would protect unions, force workers into unions they never voted for
Twenty Republican House members joined their Democratic colleagues in passing the Faster Labor Contracts Act last night. The bill would fast-track union negotiations, allowing arbitration…
News Release
Inflation still stubbornly high in May, future rate increase growing more likely: CEI analysis
The Consumer Price Index report for May shows inflation rose 0.5 percent across all sectors, with energy continuing to be a major factor in…
Blog
Congress wants to retrain workers for the AI economy. The private sector is already doing it
Last week, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) released a discussion draft of the Great American AI Act, an AI policy framework…
Blog
The EU ran the experiment, America should not repeat it
“I worry a lot about the broad scope and the vague language that [AICOA] contains that I believe would lead to an untold number…
News Release
CEI announces Professor Donald J. Boudreaux as Simon awardee, CEO Mick Ebeling as keynote speaker, and historian Lindsay Chervinsky as emcee at the 2026 Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner.
Blog
Trump’s Strait of Hormuz insurance plan gambles with taxpayer dollars
As wars and skirmishes escalate, the risks to commerce increase and are reflected in market prices. In past conflicts, shipping firms faced soaring premiums as…
Blog
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations at 250
Last week I participated in a National Association of Scholars event on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. The event…
Blog
The week in regulations: Bone void filler and halibut action
May’s job numbers were strong for the third month in a row, though job growth since Liberation Day remains under 100,000, for a labor force…
Washington Examiner
The government has no business in AI
People worry about the ways artificial intelligence will change jobs, education, creativity, and daily lives, according to polling. But they…
Blog
The Economist’s founder and the fight for free trade
My CEI colleagues Iain Murray and Ryan Young wrote in 2018 that tariffs benefit “domestic producers and the politicians they support,” at the expense of “everybody else in the economy.” …
News Release
Economy added 172,000 jobs in May, better than expected report: CEI analysis
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report for May shows an unexpected increase of 172,000 jobs, indicating an economy that has begun to…
Blog
Section 301 and the problem of limitless tariff justifications
Earlier this week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced findings from a series of Section 301 tariff investigations concerning imports allegedly made with forced…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: State budgets and bailouts with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover promising new classroom technology, increasing productivity (and avoiding layoffs) with AI, and the repeal of the…
Blog
The Faster Labor Contracts Act would force workers into unions they never voted for
Unions and their allies in Congress say that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to prevent businesses from endlessly delaying workers’ efforts…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR’s Coalition Letter in opposition to Banning, Over-Regulating Drug Ads
Dear Members of Congress, We, the undersigned organizations, write in opposition to recent efforts to quash direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs. Banning these advertisements…
News Release
CEI Report: AI Industrial Policy Schemes Create “Misalignment by Design” and a New AI Welfare State
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute contends the greatest risk associated with artificial intelligence is not technological misalignment but what author Wayne…
Study
Welcome to the Machine
The transition toward superintelligence will come with serious risks—from economic disruption, to misuse in areas like cybersecurity and biology, to the loss of alignment or…
Blog
Clean Air Act reform bills may be on the move: Mostly good, one bad
There are more Clean Air Act (CAA) bills that could be on the move in the House.Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee…
News Release
Trump EO on AI recognizes innovation imperative but leaves room for overreach
The Trump White House today put forward an executive order on “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security.” CEI regulatory policy…
Blog
The week in regulations: Onion marketing and refrigerator leaks
PCE inflation, which the Federal Reserve uses for its interest rate decisions, rose to 3.8 percent, nearly double the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. President Trump…
News Release
SEC seeks end to costly climate-related mandates
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rescinding the costly, Biden-era rules mandating that companies provide climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports. The SEC cited a return to the agency’s core…
Blog
The Railway Safety Act would shift freight from safer rails to deadlier roads
More than 36,000 Americans died on US roads in 2025. Fewer than 1,000 died on the rail system. Yet while highway fatalities rarely…
Washington Examiner
Market expectations for rate hike haunt Warsh and GOP
The Washington Examiner cites Senior Economist Ryan Young on the consumer price index: Additionally, the producer price index showed wholesale inflation shot up to a…
National Review
Three Arguments Against Tariffs
President Trump loves tariffs. The Americans paying them don’t. A recent CNN poll found that 65 percent of Americans blame Trump’s tariffs specifically for…
Blog
State legislatures targeting noncompete clauses
At least 15 states have enacted significant restrictions on noncompete agreements, ranging from minimum income thresholds to outright bans. Eight states have passed restrictions…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Fighting for freedom with Kent Lassman
In this week’s episode we cover bank privacy, SNAP benefits, a new study on tariffs, and a great new podcast…
Blog
Solving the tariff problem
Over at National Review, I summarize my recent paper making three arguments against tariffs. These are the knowledge problem, the incentive problem, and…
Blog
The inconsistent burdens of the state regulatory patchworks affecting ISPs
As the debate over federal- versus state-driven artificial intelligence (AI) regulation intensifies, many observers emphasize the risks of an emerging state AI patchwork filling…
Blog
Colorado legislature joins Illinois in breaking national payment system
One of the glories of the modern economy is that you can walk into a store anywhere in America, or indeed much of the world,…
News Release
CEI leads coalition letter urging Senate action on regulatory reform bills
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today led a coalition letter to Senate Republican leaders urging passage of two important House-passed regulatory reform bills, the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD)…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Urging Passage of Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act (H.R. 1515) and the Information Quality Assurance Act (IQAA) (H.R. 6329)
Dear Leader Thune and Senator Paul: We write to urge the passage of the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act (H.R. 1515) and the Information…
Blog
OPFAIL: Establishing a Congressional Office of Political Failure Analysis
For decades, reformers have proposed some version of a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (CORA), a congressional counterpart to the regulatory oversight apparatus housed within…
Blog
Less discretion, more discipline: Three focus areas for Warsh at the Fed
New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh should focus on three dimensions of reform: how the Fed makes decisions, the size of its market footprint, and…
Blog
The week in regulations: Black boxes and weather reports
The 2026 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages. President Trump’s Justice Department is poised to give him a $1.776 billion fund he can use to reward…
Comment
CEI Comments on Collaboration Guidelines Request for Information
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division’s Joint…
News Release
Misnamed ‘Railway Safety Act’ advances in House
The misleadingly named Railway Safety Act pushed by the Trump administration was inserted in the Build America 250 Act today and passed out of the House…
NOTUS
EPA Eases Limits on ‘Super Pollutants,’ Claiming It Will Lower Food Prices
The Trump administration is loosening restrictions on “super pollutant” chemicals that are highly potent greenhouse gases, claiming that allowing their increased use will drive down…
Washington Examiner
Freedom Conservatives plot a post-Trump Republican Party
MAGA, “America First,” paleoconservatism, integralism, Christian nationalism, social conservatism, the disruptor Right, and fusionism all the way through to the Never Trumpers: The conservative Right…
Blog
Railway Safety Act in the balance
Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is marking up the BUILD America Act — the surface transportation reauthorization bill. Among the amendments under…
Blog
Enemy of affordability: The radical climate agenda
For decades, some lawmakers and other proponents of radical climate policies have given little consideration to the adverse effects on consumers and the poor. Often,…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Fighting Medicaid fraud with Parker Thayer
In this week’s episode we cover higher inflation numbers, a strike on the Long Island Rail Road, and new disability tech…
Bloomberg Tax
SEC Proposes Scaling Back Auditor Testing of Fraud Safeguards
Most US-listed companies would be exempt from requirements they hire an outside auditor to field test safeguards meant to ensure investors can rely on corporate…
Blog
House subcommittee to hold hearing on forest management bills
On Thursday, May 21, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a hearing on several bills, many of which would make…