Wall Street Journal
Red Tape Record Breakers
President Obama is opposing a bill passed by the House last week that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to better measure the costs…
Citation
Obama administration demands that colleges adopt unconstitutional speech codes
The Justice Department and the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights have now effectively defined dating and flirting as “sexual harassment,” in addition to demanding…
Blog
IRS Abuse of Americans Is Nothing New
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Height limits for flying witches on broomsticks, mandatory street musician auditions, and more.
Blog
Could a Unionized Federal Employee Reject a Visa Application for Political Reasons?
Now that IRS officials have been caught red-handed targeting conservative organizations, it is reasonable to ask whether officials at other federal agencies also need more…
Blog
Treasurers’ Union: A Treasure Trove for Democrats
The Internal Revenue Services claims to be “one of the world's most efficient tax administrators.” But it may also be one of the most biased.
Blog
Obama Recess Appointments Violate Constitution; Another Appeals Court Rules Against the NLRB
Another federal appeals court has ruled that President Obama's so-called "recess appointments" to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional because the Senate was not…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 16, 2013: A Controversial EPA Nominee
According to Myron Ebell, the deeper cause of this political fight is a startling lack of transparency at the EPA that McCarthy is unlikely to…
Blog
Surprising Junk Science on Fox News
News stories trumping junk science are common, but I expect better from Fox News, which claims to be "fair and balanced" and hosts great shows…
Blog
Chaos at the NLRB
Yes, a second court has now ruled that President Obama's "recess" appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional. The 2-1 decision from the…
Newsmax
EPA Waives Fees for Some Groups, But Not Conservatives
The Environmental Protection Agency waives its fees for big "green" groups 92 percent of the time while it waives fees for major conservative groups only…
Blog
Rep. Whitfield Discusses CEI’s Battle With EPA on House Floor
In the below video, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-01) talks about the Environmental Protection Agency’s discriminatory practice of granting fee waivers to political allies and…
Letters
Coalition Letter on E-Verify Amendment
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned organizations, representing thousands of businesses and millions of Americans from all sides of the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 230: The Temperature of Beer
The state of Indiana regulates the temperature at which convenience stores may sell beer. Specifically, they must sell it at room temperature. Cold beer is…
Blog
Coalition Urges Policymakers to Reform the “Terrible Twelve” of Farm Policy
Action is heating up on the next farm bill, as the Senate Agriculture Committee today completed its markup of their bill which will go…
Blog
‘Gift Clause’ Can Eliminate Union Pork
What happens when state laws grant government unions the power of collective bargaining? Taxpayer funds become misused and end up aiding government union bosses at…
The Atlantic
No Sex Talk Allowed: What’s wrong with the Obama administration’s definition of sexual harassment
"Federal government mandates unconstitutional speech codes at college and universities nationwide," the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) accurately…
News Release
Diverse Coalition Supports E-Verify Reform
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 15, 2013 — This week, an ideologically diverse coalition of 44 organizations led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Small Business…
Courthouse News
Lawyers Lose $2M Award for HP Inkjet Settlement
Courthouse News reports on Ted Frank's work to object to settlements that break the Class Action Fairness Act. While two members of the…
Law 360
$1.5M Attys’ Fees Scuttle HP Printer Defect Deal In 9th Circ.
Law 360 reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' victory in their objection to the Hewlett-Packard Co. settlement which benefited the plaintiffs' lawyers more…
Letters
Coalition Letter on the “Terrible Twelve” of Farm Policy
Full Document Available in PDF Washington’s Farm Policy is a nearly trillion dollar tangle of agriculture subsidies, welfare payments and environmental patronage.
Forbes
Move Over Polar Bears, Palm Oil Orangutans Want Their $5 Worth Of Fame
What do polar bears,orangutans, the Walt Disney DIS +0.48% Company, Cheetos, recycled fundraising schemes, and corporate shakedowns have in common? It’s just another day on the social…
Forbes
E-Verify’s biometric database: A huge step toward a permission-slip society
“Maybe we should just brand all the babies.” With this mocking remark, Ronald Reagan dismissed a national ID proposal in 1981. In the 32 years…
Forbes
FCC again balks on telephone network shutdown
According to Fred Campbell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a former bureau chief at the FCC, Friday’s notice is “more likely to…
Human Events
Now Boarding the Obama Administration Scandal Train: the EPA
CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several…
The Business Journals
Conservative group accuses EPA of playing favorites on FOIA fees
That’s according to an analysis of a year’s worth of FOIA requests by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based public policy group…
The Business Journals
EPA makes information requests more difficult for conservatives
According to EPA records obtained by the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, since January 2012 the agency has granted fee waivers for 75 out of…
The Business Journals
Uh Oh: Obama’s EPA Mistreated Conservative Groups, Too?
It’s not just the IRS that treats groups on the right differently from the rest. According to documents obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the…
News Release
EPA Gives Info For Free to Big Green Groups 92% of Time; Denies 93% of Fee Waiver Requests from Biggest Conservative Critics
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 14, 2013 – It’s not just the IRS that treats groups on the right differently from the rest. According to documents obtained…
Blog
Sorry, Daily Beast: E-Verify Will Be National ID
Daily Beast blogger Justin Green, who blogs on columnist David Frum’s Daily Beast blog, has responded to Wired’s recent article “Biometric Database of All…
Blog
Milton Friedman, Immigration, and Birth Control
Milton Friedman, perhaps the most important free market economist and libertarian activist of the 20th century, is also the favorite of immigration restrictionists for comments he…
Blog
IRS Investigated Groups for Teaching about the Constitution
The IRS didn’t just investigate groups based on their perceived political views, but also targeted groups for “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights”…
Newsletter
CEI Today: IRS abuse of power, immigrants & poverty, and EPA nominee misleading Congress
Blog
“Shocking” Truth about Government and Soap
Is your hand wash slowly killing you as government regulators sit idly by? Sounds silly, but that’s what environmentalists seem to think about an antibacterial…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
64 new regulations, from drawbridge schedules to official seals.
The Business Journals
Could Immigration Bill Lead to Big Brother Database?
David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, warned, “The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do…
The Business Journals
Consternated Conferences
The conservative movement’s factions also pushed back against the often puzzling decisions of the American Conservative Union board, which controls CPAC. The gay conservative group…
New York Times
This Week in Small Business: Small Data
Adam Liptak says this has been the most business-friendly Supreme Court since World War II. The Senate approves an online sales tax bill,…
Wall Street Journal
Should Washington Allow Internet Gambling?
Blog
Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
Blog
Excuses, Excuses
The IRS today acknowledged that it had wrongfully targeted Tea Party groups for heightened scrutiny. In trying to explain the agency’s mistake, IRS spokeswoman…
Blog
Federal Title IX Enforcers Effectively Define Dating and Sex Education as “Sexual Harassment”
No one would believe you if you made this up, but it's now actually happened: The Justice Department and the Education Department's Office for Civil…
Blog
Coalition Urges Reform of Sugar Program
The Hill picked up our coalition’s release on reforming the U.S. sugar program. The letter, sent to all Senate and House offices, was…
Blog
IRS Apologizes for Targeting Conservative Groups
Comment
Comments on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
Full Document Available in PDF In what would be the largest trade pact ever, the United States and the European Union early…
Blog
Heritage Immigration Report Implies 70% of Americans “Increase Poverty”
The Heritage Foundation’s new report on the fiscal costs of legalization for unauthorized immigrants concluded that it will cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion. Yesterday, I…
News Release
CEI Files Comments on Transatlantic Trade Agreement
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 10, 2013—The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed comments today on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The United States and European…
Blog
Government’s Chinatown Bus Shutdowns Based on “Statistical Malpractice”
Reason’s Jim Epstein has an article up that does a nice job debunking a National Transportation Safety Board study, prompted by a 2011…
Blog
Seven Ways Heritage Concluded Immigration Reform Will Cost $6.3 Trillion
The Heritage Foundation’s report this week that suggests legalization for unauthorized immigrants will result in a $6.3 billion fiscal deficit is an important conversation…
Blog
The Economist on “the muddle-headed world of American public pension accounting”
As state governments across the nation struggle to address a public pension underfunding crisis they can no longer deny, The Economist is the latest…