Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposed to Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Final Rule
View Full Document as PDF Introduction On behalf of the undersigned federal and state-based organizations, we write to express our…
Blog
Has the Honeymoon Already Ended Between Biden and Trade Unions over Keystone XL?
It didn’t take long. On his first day in office, President Biden revoked the federal permit granted by Donald Trump for the Keystone XL…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday. With the usual end-of-administration midnight rush now over, things will likely slow down. It takes time for new…
Inside Sources
Biden Attack on Keystone Pipeline Bodes Ill For Jobs, Economy
Among the list of things President Joe Biden has reportedly promised to do immediately upon taking office is reversing President Donald…
The Washington Times
Boebert Bill To Block Paris Climate Agreement Reignites Senate Ratification Debate
The Washington Times cites Director for the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell on the Paris Agreement: Opponents had urged…
The Daily Signal
Will Biden’s Policies Lead to Job Losses? Here Are Possible Economic Impacts of 4 of Them
The Daily Signal cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on the impact of a minimum wage increase: However, the economic impact isn’t…
Blog
Gensler Agenda at SEC Bears Close Watching
President Biden has chosen former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler as his nominee to be chair of the Securities and…
Blog
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Trump EPA’s Replacement for Clean Power Plan
A panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on January 19 to vacate the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE)…
City Journal
What Was Amazon Waiting For?
January 20 was Inauguration Day. It was also the day that a major American employer offered to help in the Covid-19 vaccination effort. In…
Citation
Let Them Learn
The Wall Street Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” plan: In the meantime, Wayne Crews at…
Blog
In Memoriam: Jerry Ellig
I was shocked and deeply saddened to learn yesterday that my friend and one-time teacher, Jerry Ellig, passed away on Wednesday night, the victim of…
Blog
Trump EPA’s January Surprise: Timely New Check on Regulatory Excess
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 13 published its long-awaited final rule on New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Blog
A Look at “Modernizing Regulatory Review”
The Biden “Modernizing Regulatory Review” plan is about gutting the restraint of the past four years, and if you read statements from the proponents…
E&E News
Biden Signals ‘New Direction’ On Regulations
E&E News cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden’s regulatory review process: Wayne Crews, an analyst at the…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Pushing Back on Calls to Break Up U.S. Tech Companies
View Full Document as PDF Dear Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Republican Members of Congress: On behalf of the undersigned organizations,…
The Washington Examiner
Biden’s Quest to Reverse Trump-Era Environmental Rollbacks Could Take Years
The Washington Examiner cites Director of the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell on regulatory reform and the Biden administration:…
Blog
The Growing Groupthink Problem in Science and Policy
Government Dietary Guidelines issued jointly by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years are meant to provide…
Blog
Trump DOE Finalizes More Flexible Regulation for Residential Furnaces
In one of the Trump Department of Energy’s (DOE) last regulatory actions, the agency on January 15 revised the energy efficiency standards for…
Blog
EPA to Increase Transparency in Regulatory Science—for Now
Not many people know that much of the science used to regulate pollutants and radiation is a mess. To help clear this up, on…
News Release
Senate Should Question Biden’s Choice to Head CFPB, Rohit Chopra, on Fair Process for Regulating Businesses
The Senate should question President-elect Biden’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau out of concern that businesses get fair treatment in the…
Forbes
Status Report: What Regulations Did The Trump Administration Eliminate In 2020?
Bookending four years of its infamous one-in, two-out requirement for issuing significant new regulations, the Trump administration quietly just released its status roundup called…
Forbes
Who Is Gary Gensler, Biden’s Pick To Run The SEC?
Forbes cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on President Biden’s choice of Gary Gensler as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: Richard…
The Epoch Times
Biden Picks Warren Allies to Head Financial Sector Oversight Agencies, SEC, and CFPB
The Epoch Times cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on Biden’s policy proposal for the SEC: Some conservatives have expressed reservation. Richard…
The Washington Times
Trump Administration Finalizes ‘Fair Access’ Banking Rule
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on the “Fair Access” banking rule: “The rule will lead to more, not…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy MLK Day, everyone. The Trump administration’s final full week was an eventful one. The president was impeached for a second time. The usual…
National Review
Why Is Israel Doing Better Than Everyone Else in COVID Vaccinations?
Eleven years ago, Dan Senor and Saul Singer dubbed Israel the “Start Up Nation” for its disproportionately large number of technology start-ups and NASDAQ stock…
Blog
Treasury, FHFA Reverse ‘Net Worth Sweep” at Fannie and Freddie
The headlines yesterday were that the Trump administration had failed to exit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government-owned conservatorship. This is…
Letters
CEI Joins Committee for Justice Coalition Letter on Antitrust
View Full Document as PDF Dear Representatives Buck, Biggs, and Gaetz: We, the undersigned, write with sincere appreciation for your…
News Release
Federal Minimum Wage Hike to $15 an Hour Will Hurt Small Businesses, Lead to Lost Jobs
President-elect Joe Biden today announced a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 recovery plan that includes not only $1,400 stimulus checks to many Americans but a federal…
News Release
CEI Files Opening Brief in Case Seeking More Lenient CAFE standards
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed its opening brief in CEI v. NHTSA, contending the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the…
News Release
New Bank Fair Access Rule Will Cause Costly State of Uncertainty, Red Tape
Today the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury, finalized a new…
Washington Examiner
Biden Poised to Be the Biggest Regulator in History
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulatory reform: “Biden has signaled in all areas that the…
Blog
Economics Can Help Explain Conspiracy Theorists
There is a lot of conspiracy theory garbage floating around. On January 6, it took a violent turn. Five people died in a coup…
Blog
Most Americans Still Buy Large Gasoline-Powered Vehicles, According to Latest EPA Data
There is a deep divide between the vehicles that climate activists and their political allies prefer and those that the public actually wants and…
Fortune
It’s Time to Raise the Cost of Spreading Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories were a major driver behind the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. They have also been a growing part of…
Blog
Employers Will Pay Workers to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine
The federal government, through Operation Warp speed, helped develop and bring to market vaccines against the new disease COVID-19 in less than a year,…
City Journal
AUDIO: Joel Zinberg Joins the 10 Blocks Podcast to Discuss COVID Vaccine Rollout
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins Brian Anderson at City Journal to discuss the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines, why states…
The World News
Trump Officials Removed From White House After Faking Approval For Papers Which Downplay Climate Crisis
The World News cites Senior Fellow Patrick Michaels on NCAs: Another paper, on the four National Assessments of Climate Change conducted…
National Review
A Big-Government Crackdown on ‘Woke Capital’
National Review cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on the OCC proposed Rule on “Fair Access to Financial Services”: There’s also the…
Ricochet
AUDIO: Iain Murray Discusses Socialism on Action Line Podcast
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murray joins “Action Line” to discuss the reasons why socialism is not an effective method for…
News Release
Biden’s SEC Pick Should Focus on Commission’s Core Mission, Not Political Causes: CEI Experts
President-elect Biden is reportedly set to select Gary Gensler to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler is a current MIT professor who previously…
The Washington Post
Biden Likely To Tap Gary Gensler To Lead SEC, But The Decision Isn’t Final
The Washington Post cites Research Fellow Richard Morrison on SEC reporting standards: Those efforts may already be in the crosshairs. Richard…
The Washington Times
Push To Break Up Big Tech Picks Up Bipartisan Steam Amid Conservative Crackdown
The Washington Times cites Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation Jessica Melugin on Parler’s antitrust case against Amazon: “If…
Blog
The Danger in Blurring the Private and Public Boundaries with Government Regulation
The recent decisions of many technology companies to remove users and customers from their platforms have deeply divided Americans. Many Americans feel censored and…
Blog
Will the Next Labor Secretary Support Job-Killing Climate Measures?
President-elect Biden has selected most of his nominees to head the federal departments, and he has made clear to them that addressing climate change…
City Journal
End Covid Now
More than 22 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been distributed in the United States so far, yet only …
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
After last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, the outgoing president, several elected officials, and their supporters have some soul-searching to do. Meanwhile, agencies continued…
Blog
Priorities for Commerce Secretary Nominee Raimondo: Tariffs, TPA, Trade Agreements
President-Elect Biden will nominate Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo to be the next Commerce Secretary. She will soon be in a position to undo…
Blog
Department of Labor Cautions “Gig Economy” Companies against Limiting Workers’ Freedom
The Department of Labor (DOL) said on Wednesday, January 6, that if someone is currently working for one or more of your business rivals,…
Blog
Vape Mail Ban Will Hurt Vulnerable Adults and Won’t Prevent Online Sales to Youth
The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted a brutal toll on businesses. But one industry that is not only surviving but thriving is the cigarette…
The Kansas City Star
Political Realignment Provides Hope For A Less Polarized Society In America’s Future
Blog
EPA Rule Will Strengthen Transparency and Accountability in Agency Science
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week finalized its science transparency rule. The rule requires the EPA to clearly identify the “pivotal” scientific…
News Release
December Job Losses in Leisure & Hospitality Eclipse Gains in Other Sectors – What Can Policymakers Do?
The Labor Department reported today the economy lost 140,000 jobs in December 2020. Gains in various sectors were eclipsed by 500,000 jobs lost…
Blog
Biden Labor Nominee Marty Walsh Poised to Make Radical Changes
Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary will elevate a person to oversee the nation’s workplace who is…
News Release
Biden’s Labor Dept. Pick Will Likely Seek Union-First Policies
President-elect Joe Biden announced Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his pick for Labor secretary. That signals a union-first approach to labor policy, predicts…
News Release
Statement from Kent Lassman, president and CEO at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Shock and horror are natural responses to violent mobs. CEI condemns the lawlessness and violence in the nation’s capital. Every day CEI engages…
The Washington Examiner
The Davis-Bacon Act May Present Challenges To Biden’s Infrastructure Plans
The Washington Examiner cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on the Davis-Bacon Act: One of the reasons for the delay was the…
Blog
Labor Department Independent Contractor Rule out Today
The Department of Labor (DOL) acted to promote entrepreneurialism and protect freelancers on Wednesday by issuing a new rule under the Fair Labor…
News Release
CFPB Taskforce Offers Recommendations to Help Consumers, Fintech Firms
In response to a new report from the CFPB Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law, CEI Senior Fellow John Berlau praised recommendations aimed at…
National Review
Why Are We Vaccinating People Who Have Recovered from COVID-19?
Now that Pfizer and Moderna have received emergency-use authorizations for their COVID-19 vaccines, the tough work of deciding how to allocate the limited supply of…
The Hill
EPA Finalizes ‘Secret Science’ Rule, Limiting Use Of Public Health Research
The Hill cites CEI’s event featuring EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler, who announced the rule at an event with the Competitive…
Bloomberg Law
EPA Restricts How Science Can Be Used to Shape Regulations (2)
Bloomberg Law cites CEI’s event featuring EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler defended the new rule, called the Strengthening…
Politico
EPA To Release Scientific Transparency Rule
Politico cites CEI’s event featuring EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler is slated to make “a major announcement” during a Competitive Enterprise…
Reason
Congress Targets Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google for Being Popular
Reason cites CEI’s Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation Jessica Melugin on the Department of Justice’s civil suit against Google.
Washington Examiner
Trump EPA Issues Science Transparency Restrictions that Could Tie Biden’s Hands
The Washington Examiner cites CEI’s event featuring EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler: The rulemaking, which EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler…
News Release
EPA Administrator Wheeler Unveils Final Science Transparency Rule During CEI Forum
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler unveiled the agency’s final rule on strengthening transparency in pivotal science this morning during a…
Blog
Toward Simplifying Antitrust Regulation
Antitrust regulation is a complex mess. Multiple agencies have overlapping jurisdiction with no set rules for determining who takes which cases. One of the…
Law & Liberty
Who Will Control Corporations?
Milton Friedman taught us that corporate managers should focus on profitable operations and building shareholder value, while enlightened globalists like World Economic Forum founder…
Fortune
The Facebook Antitrust Suit is a Major Assault on Entrepreneurs
The new antitrust actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several states aimed at breaking up Facebook are being …
The Hill
Are Two Federal Agencies Smarter Than One to File Antitrust Lawsuits?
Antitrust lawsuits seem to come in waves. The Justice Department sued Google last fall. Then Facebook was hit with two different lawsuits, one from…
Comment
CEI Comments on OCC Proposed Rule on “Fair Access to Financial Services”
View Full Document as PDF Dear Ms. Boyes: On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I submit this comment…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Happy new year, everyone. We made it. 2020 was rough, but as I argued last week, it was not the worst year ever.
Forbes
Donald Trump’s Year In Regulation, 2020
Today, Thursday, December 31, is the last federal workday of 2020. This presents the opportunity to review the heft of the Federal Register and its…
Blog
Regulation in 2020: Some Quick Numbers
The 251st and final issue of the 2020 Federal Register was released this morning. Here are some of the initial findings: Federal agencies issued…
The Washington Times
Biden Figures Wage War On Trump’s High-Performance Dishwasher Rule
The Washington Times cites CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman on the Energy Department’s new high-performance dishwasher rule. Pushing back against the…
Washington Examiner
2020 Wasn’t All Bad: There’s Good News About Climate Change
Two important climate stories have somehow evaded media attention. The first is that the authoritative International Energy Agency now recognizes that the high-emissions (and…
News Release
State AGs’ Lawsuit Against Energy Dept. Dishwasher Rule Will Soak Consumers
In response to a lawsuit filed by 15 state attorneys general and the City of New York against the Department of Energy’s (DOE)…
National Review
New Alcohol Guidelines a Victory for Science over Politics
Blog
2020 Was Difficult. It Was Not the Worst Year Ever
It’s been a hard year, and I am hardly alone in being glad it’s almost over. But was 2020 the worst year ever?…
Blog
Trump’s 2020 Unified Agenda on Regulation: An Update on One-in, Two-out
As just explored at Forbes, the Trump administration in early December released the fall 2020 edition of the twice-yearly …
The Dan Profit Show
AUDIO: Joel Zinberg Joins The Dan Profit Show
CEI’s Joel Zinberg joins The Dan Profit Show to discuss Biden’s COVID response.
Blog
Best Books of 2020: Joseph Henrich – The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
It’s early, but The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrich will likely…
Blog
White House’s 261 Big Rules in the Pipeline Herald More Regulation than Deregulation
No matter the presidential administration, federal agencies issue thousands of rules and regulations every year, compared to a relative handful of laws passed by…
The Telegraph
Commentary: Angela Logomasini — Dangerous Consequences of Junk Science
Author Richard Weaver was certainly correct when he asserted that “ideas have consequences” in his 1948 book by the same name. It’s also true…
Marketplace
Spending, Relief Bill Phases Out Planet Warming Refrigerants
Marketplace cites Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman on refrigerants. This measure hits two sweet spots: the environment and jobs. A key reason…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week’s drama over the combined COVID-19 spending bill and omnibus budget bill ran over into Christmas, spoiling a three-day work week in Washington.
National Review
How an Inexplicable New York Court Decision Threatens Uber and Lyft
Imagine a job where you only need to show up for work when you feel like it, and when you do show up, you can…
Blog
Best Books of 2020: Virgil Henry Storr and Ginny Seung Choi – Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019)
Most people see markets as dens of greed and moral corruption. In their new book, Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?,…
Citizens Journal
Electric Vehicle Shock Treatment
Citizens Journal cites CEI’s report by Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman. Mining and processing ores, and manufacturing batteries, would also require enormous…
Blog
Amazon’s Private Labels Don’t Threaten Competition
A recent Wall Street Journal article raises concerns about Amazon’s generics offerings and the online retailer’s business practices surrounding diaper sales. In…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Opposing Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Mandate
View Full Document as PDF Dear President Trump, As leaders of conservative and free-market groups strongly concerned about the liberties,…
Blog
FCC Should Free Spectrum for 5G
5G is the future of mobile broadband. Freeing up spectrum to facilitate the use of the airwaves is more important than ever. To that…
Real Clear Policy
Why Critics Should Leave Section 230’s Liability Protections Alone
Attacks on Section 230, the liability limiting shield for online platforms, are coming from President Trump, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. But the debate around curtailing…
News Release
New Law Banning Refrigerant Will Harm Consumers and Benefit Special Interests
WASHINGTON, DC – Congress intends to include ban a chemical commonly used in air-conditioners and refrigerators and extend billions in existing government spending toward…
The American Spectator
Money Isn’t Ruining Christmas
ost of us love the idea of a snow-filled white Christmas, but secretly dread the accompanying blizzard of commentary about how we ruin the…
Op-Eds
Cannabis Legalization Clears One Hurdle, but Political Parties Must Compromise to Succeed
Last week, the House passed an historic bill to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. Despite growing public and political support for such a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
COVID vaccine rollout has started. While immunizing millions of people will take several months, it looks like the worst is almost past. For scientists…
City Journal
A Path to Better Days
It seems like a lifetime, but it was only one year ago that the world learned about a cluster of pneumonia cases linked to…
Blog
Biden Names Climate Alarmists to All Top Environment and Energy Positions
President-elect Joe Biden this week announced his choices for the top environment and energy positions in his administration. All are climate alarmists, which confirms…
Blog
Washington Post Trashes EPA Benefit Cost Analysis Rule
The Washington Post last week published an inaccurate and misleading analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently finalized benefit-cost analysis (BCA)…