Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Revival of Expired Tax Extenders
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Leader Schumer, Over 16 months ago, a package of temporary business tax breaks known as “tax extenders”…
Blog
Boeing Pushes 100 Percent Tariffs on Airbus
Boeing, fresh off a victory in restoring the Export-Import Bank’s full lending authority, is floating the idea of a 100 percent tariff on Airbus aircraft…
Blog
Regulators Find Uber Drivers to Be Independent Contractors
Determining the proper legal worker classification for an individual has become an arduous task. A major reason for the difficulty is a patchwork of federal…
Blog
Australian Government Tempts Mortgage Crisis
It seems that Australia’s political parties are suffering from collective amnesia. After spending the earlier half of the year criticizing banks for abrogating their responsible…
Blog
Can Trump Save Your Air Conditioner from the Deep State?
It happens every spring—on the first hot day, homeowners switch on their air conditioners that have sat idle since September, cross their fingers, and pray…
Blog
Trade War State of Play: China, USMCA
If President Trump’s trade war has a single takeaway, it is this: Raising tariffs is an ineffective bargaining strategy. When the U.S. raises its tariffs,…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet Winter 2019
News Release
CEI Invokes New Data Quality Guidelines in Challenge to EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today petitionedthe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop utilizing its 2009 Endangerment Finding until it subjects it to the high-level peer…
Legal Brief
CEI Submits Request for Correction Under the Information Quality Act
Information Quality Act Correction Request Regarding EPA’s 2009 GHG Endangerment Finding …
Forbes
What If the Administrative State Cannot Be Reformed?
For the past couple of years I’ve been emphasizing the usefulness of an executive order from President Donald Trump on regulatory "guidance documents" to bridge the gap…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called for breaking up the company; CEI’s Iain Murray and Kent Lassman explain why that’s a bad idea. CEI also released…
Blog
‘Forefront of Opportunity and Abundance’—Sec. Pompeo’s Remarks to Arctic Council
On May 7th in Finland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participated in the eleventh Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council. The meeting “ended without…
Blog
VIDEO: Report Card on Regulatory Reform
Earlier this week I had the good fortune to spend some time at the historic Mayflower hotel here in Washington, D.C. attending the Federalist Society’s 7th…
Blog
Bloomberg Reporter Justin Bachman Gets Duped by TripAdvisor Front Group
I wrote back in November 2018 of the false, scurrilous, ad hominem attacks on Competitive Enterprise Institute Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith’s appointment as consumer representative…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition to Congress: No Electric Vehicle Tax Credit Expansion
We, the undersigned organizations, write to object to any effort to expand the current electric vehicle tax credit. While the tax credit is misguided, at…
Blog
Hearing Discusses Boosting Union Coercive Powers
Democrats in Congress are pushing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act H.R. 2474, which seeks to strip workers of long-held protections and bolster…
Blog
Pop Federal Trade Commission’s Dangerous Facebook Trial Balloon
Facebook is reportedly negotiating a settlement with a powerful regulatory agency that would impose a new corporate structure, increase liability for one or more executives,…
Blog
CEI Leads Free-Market Coalition to Dispel Passenger Facility Charge Myths
Today, CEI and seven other free-market organizations sent a letter to members of Congress aimed at dispelling myths circulating about the airport passenger facility charge…
Blog
Re-Prioritizing Regulatory Reform
The 2019 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State is out now.
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Congress Dispelling PFC Myths
Dear Members of Congress, We write to you today to dispel myths surrounding the airport passenger facility charge (PFC).
National Review
President Trump Should Rediscover Regulatory Reform
President Trump, who made regulatory reform a priority early in his term, claims to have reduced federal regulatory burdens by $23 billion in fiscal…
Blog
Don’t Let Facebook Team up with Big Government to Censor the Web
Facebook’s expulsion of several controversial figures from its platform last week is an example of a company managing its own private property to what it…
Blog
Trump Administration Ends Homecare Providers Dues Skim
Since 2000, state governments have diverted $1.4 billion from homecare providers and handed it to labor unions, according to the Freedom Foundation. For over a…
News Release
Federal Government Illegally Fails to Account for at Least $1.9 Trillion in Estimated Regulatory Costs
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today released the 2019 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State (10KC 2019), CEI’s annual survey of…
Products
Liberate to Stimulate
Download Chapter 11 as a PDF Policy makers frequently propose spending stimulus as a way to grow economies. It rarely goes well. A regulatory…
Products
Regulation and the Federal Communications Commission
Download Chapter 10 as a PDF The Federal Communications Commission is by no means the heavyweight among regulators as gauged by the number of…
Products
Government Accountability Office Database on Regulations
Download Chapter 9 as a PDF The various federal reports and databases on regulations serve different purposes: The Federal Register shows the aggregate number…
Products
Analysis of the Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
Download Chapter 8 as a PDF The “Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” (Agenda) is where agencies outline their…
Products
Regulatory Dark Matter: Over 22,000 Public Notices Annually
Download Chapter 7 as a PDF Without actually passing a law, government can specify parameters for various industries, including health care, retirement, education, energy…
Products
Regulatory Dark Matter: Presidential Executive Orders and Memoranda
Download Chapter 6 as a PDF Executive orders, presidential memoranda, and other executive actions make up a large component of executive “lawmaking.”…
Products
Thousands of Pages in the Federal Register
Download Chapter 5 as a PDF The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations.
Products
The Unknowable Costs of Regulation and Intervention
Download Chapter 4 as a PDF The sole official reckoning citizens get on the scale and scope of regulatory costs is an annual but…
Products
Toward a Federal “Regulatory Budget”
Download Chapter 3 as a PDF When Congress spends, disclosure is necessary for voters to hold representatives accountable. Federal programs are funded either by…
Products
On the Other Hand…Trump’s Own Regulatory Impulses Threaten to Derail Successes
Download Chapter 2 as a PDF President Trump has pruned rules and costs and held down regulatory output with more enthusiasm than other presidents.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Not one, but two potential Federal Reserve Board nominees withdrew from consideration last week, and economic growth and unemployment remained in excellent health. Meanwhile, with…
Blog
Trump Threatens New China Tariff with May 10th Deadline
On Sunday, President Trump announced via Twitter that if he does not approve of the results of this week’s U.S.-China trade talks, he will enact…
Blog
Extinction Rebellion Heats Up UK Climate Ambition (or Rhetoric)
Spurred by David Attenborough’s global warming documentary, Extinction Rebellion protests, and homilies by teen activist Greta Thunberg, the United Kingdom became the first nation on Earth to…
Blog
Congressional Democratic Leaders Meet with President on Infrastructure Bill
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other congressional Democrats met with President Trump on April 30 to discuss an infrastructure package.
Blog
House Passes Bill to Keep U.S. in Paris Climate Treaty
The House of Representatives on May 2 passed a bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate treaty. Eighteen…
Products
9,999 Commandments? Six Ways Rule Flows Have Been Reduced or Streamlined
Download Chapter 1 as a PDF This edition of Ten Thousand Commandments begins with a survey of approaches the Trump administration took in its…
Products
Ten Thousand Commandments 2019 – Executive Summary
Download the Executive Summary as a PDF Spending control and deficit restraint are indispensable to any nation’s long-term economic health. Alarm among conservatives over…
News Release
Facebook’s Calls for Government Regulation of Speech Provide Important Context for Recent Actions
Facebook announced yesterday it was banning several individuals under a policy it has against “dangerous individuals and organizations.” Individuals banned include: InfoWars founder Alex Jones,…
Blog
Ex-Im Bank Revival?
Next week the Senate is expected to vote on new board members for the Export-Import Bank, which gives favorable financing terms to foreign governments and…
Blog
House Democrats Introduce Union Gift Bag Bill
The Protecting Workers’ Right to Organize (PRO) Act puts the interests of labor unions over workers. Each provision of the bill either grants unions greater…
CNBC
VIDEO: Ryan Radia Discusses Facebook and FTC on CNBC Power Lunch
Adjunct Fellow Ryan Radia joined CNBC’s Power Lunch to discuss Facebook and the FTC.
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank
Dear Members of Congress: On behalf of our groups and organizations, which collectively represent millions of Americans across all 50 states, we urge you to…
News Release
Trump Administration to End Labor Union Medicaid Dues Skimming
Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services took action to end labor union Medicaid dues skimming, promulgating a rule to fix that problem. The…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2019
Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American consumers,…
Blog
The Economic Illiteracy of a 36 Percent Interest Rate Cap
Earlier this week, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on a draft bill that proposes to set a national 36 percent annual percentage…
Blog
Republican Study Committee Releases 2020 Budget Proposal
Congress is supposed to pass an annual spending budget, though it rarely gets around to it. Instead, the government is usually funded through a mashup…
Blog
Costs of Unequal Treatment of Citizens by Abandoning Negative Rights for a Positive Rights Framework
To many classical liberals (or libertarians), it is primarily the individual’s right of self-defense that is delegated to a government. We cannot unilaterally commence the…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Department of Labor on Intermediate Bodies Rule
Dear Secretary Acosta: As free-market and conservative organizations concerned with protecting worker free choice and ensuring labor union officials are accountable to members, we urge…
News Release
CEI Praises FDA for Approving Lower Risk Cigarette Alternative
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today gave the green light to the marketing of new tobacco products manufactured by Philip Morris. The IQOS “Tobacco…
News Release
Free-Market Groups Oppose House Attempt to Reinstate Harmful Paris Treaty
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), joined by 16 organizations—including Heritage Action, FreedomWorks, and Americans for Limited Government—sent a letter today to the House of Representatives…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Surface Transportation Board to Withdraw Proposed Switching Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) led a coalition of 20 other free market organizations urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to withdraw a harmful…
Blog
Will Reforming Consumer Finance Regulation Cause a Recession?
Will reforming consumer finance regulation cause a recession? That is the claim of a recent article in The Hill. Yet, the article provides little evidence to…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Members of Congress to Oppose H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act
The undersigned organizations strongly urge you to oppose H. R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which if enacted would reverse President Trump’s wise decision…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to STB on Competitive Switching Rule
Dear Chairman Begeman, Vice Chairman Fuchs, and Member Oberman, We, the undersigned, wish to congratulate and welcome you to your appointments. The Surface Transportation Board…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While Washington’s “This Town” types geared up for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the rest of the country flocked to movie theaters for a much…
The Hill
Federal Reserve defies White House and Congress on Banking Regulation
President Trump and the Federal Reserve continue to clash over interest rates, but another simmering dispute concerns the regulatory burden the Federal Reserve and other…
Blog
New York City Enacts Its Own Green New Deal
New York City’s council passed the Climate Mobilization Act, a set of six bills, by a 45 to 2 vote on 18th April. Mayor Bill de Blasio signed…
Blog
White House Moves to Strengthen Information Quality Act
The White House Office of Management and Budget on April 24th sent a memo to heads of departments and agencies updating guidelines for implementing the Information Quality…
Blog
On Climate, Lindsey Graham Says GOP Ready to ‘Cross Rubicon’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters yesterday at an Earth Day event in Dallas that congressional Republicans are “ready to cross the Rubicon” on climate…
Blog
VIDEO: Government Should Not Regulate Social Media Content
Trends in social media have rocketed to the top of the national political agenda recently, whether in the desire of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to…
Blog
How Julian Simon Defeats Thanos
“The universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist.” With those simple words, the Marvel supervillain Thanos…
The Washington Examiner
Consumer Doom: Both Parties are Pushing Antitrust Rules as a 2020 Issue
After a two-decade lull following the Microsoft case, big antitrust enforcement cases are back in vogue. Both political parties are making antitrust regulation a 2020…
Blog
New Civil Liberties Alliance Sounds Alarm on Unconstitutional Government
The New Civil Liberties Alliance hosted a very interesting event this week, as part of its “Lunch and Law” speaker series, featuring remarks by Hudson…
Blog
Antitrust Regulation Turning into Campaign Issue
Both parties are making antitrust regulation a 2020 campaign issue. Neither President Trump nor most of the Democratic candidates are proposing improvements. Over at the…
Washington Examiner
Consumer doom: Both parties are pushing antitrust rules as a 2020 issue
After a two-decade lull following the Microsoft case, big antitrust enforcement cases are back in vogue. Both political parties are making antitrust regulation a…
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition Supporting Reformed Payday Loan Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition of eighteen free market organizations in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s decision to rescind portions of…
Forbes
Here are the Next Executive Orders President Trump Should Issue on Regulatory Reform
What's next for oversight and streamlining of federal regulations? On April 11, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Acting Director Russell Vought issued…
Comment
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to CFPB Regarding Proposed Rule on Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans
Dear Director Kraninger, The undersigned organizations write in strong support of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s decision to rescind portions of the Payday, Vehicle…
Blog
Two-Tier Wage System Highlights Need for Labor Reform
Over the weekend, the eleven-day strike by more than 30,000 Stop & Shop employees ended. The grocery chain announced that it “has reached fair new…
Blog
Insights from James Otteson’s ‘Honorable Business’
I’ve been reading a new book on business ethics, “Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society,” and it has some…
Inside Sources
Ideology Undermines Earth Day Goals
April 22 is the 49th anniversary of Earth Day as well as the former communist dictator Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s 149th birthday. Is it a coincidence…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris caught fire and sustained heavy damage. The rebuilding will likely take years, though people began politicizing it almost instantly.
Blog
EPA Mercury Rule an Inappropriate Exercise of Regulatory Power
On Wednesday, I submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to rescind its justification for the 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.
Blog
VIDEO: Johan Norberg on Resource Scarcity vs. Abundance
It’s an old argument: as population increases and we use up more of the earth’s natural resources, everything is become more scarce. Soon the pressures…
Blog
Blocking the T-Mobile-Sprint Merger: Competition, Rent-Seeking, and Uncertainty
Nationwide 5G networks are coming. They will expand possibilities for everything from smartphone applications to GPS to streaming video, and will enable new technologies that…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Supporting DOT on California High-Speed Rail Funding
We, the undersigned organizations, representing millions of taxpayers nationwide, appreciate your leadership and support your efforts to de-obligate $929 million in federal grants not yet…
News Release
McConnell Plan to Raise Nicotine Access to Age 21 Could Backfire
Citing health concerns about youth vaping, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced legislation to raise the nationwide minimum age to buy tobacco products from…
Comment
CEI Comments on the Mercury Rule
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reconsideration of its 2016 Supplemental Finding regarding the agency’s justification for its…
Medium
The FDA’s Runaway Trolley Problem
If you’ve ever participated in a thought experiment, you know how fun that can be. The most famous is the Trolley Problem, entertainingly portrayed by…
Blog
Reformed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Can Be Free-Market Regulator
Earlier this week, The New York Times Magazine rolled out another edition of the tired old trope of how former acting Director Mick Mulvaney “destroyed”…
News Release
DOJ Wrong to Intervene in Merger Between Sprint and T-Mobile
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that antitrust enforcement staff at the Department of Justice have told T-Mobile and Sprint the proposed merger between the…
Blog
New Study: The Case against Antitrust Law
Antitrust regulation is a complex, multifaceted issue. It brings together insights from law, economics, political science, history, philosophy, and other disciplines. Right now both political…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Regarding EB-5 Visa Program
Comment
CEI Joins Pacific Legal Foundation Comments on EPA/Army Corps 2019 Proposed Regulation Defining “Navigable Waters” under the Clean Water Act
Pacific Legal Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and Washington Cattlemen’s Association are pleased to submit the following comments on the EPA and the…
News Release
CEI Makes the Case against the Use of Antitrust Law
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today released a report making the case that government use of antitrust law to break up big companies has a chilling…
Study
The Case against Antitrust Law
Politicians and pundits across the ideological spectrum often call for greater competition in the marketplace. While their favored means vary widely, the view that current…
Eno Transportation Weekly
Airport Investments Discussed in House Transportation and Infrastructure Hearing
Eno Transportation Weekly cited Senior Fellow Marc Scribner’s testimony on infastructure funding. Compromise arose both in the sense of considering a variety of revenue…
AASHTO Journal
House Ways and Means Committee Holds Infrastructure Funding Hearing
AASHTO Journal cited Senior Fellow Marc Scribner’s testimony at the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on infrastructure funding. In the future, Marc Scribner, a…
MarketWatch
Key Republican Raises Alarm About Hiking Corporate Taxes to Pay for Infrastructure Overhaul
MarketWatch cited Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on infrastructure spending. “There are very real infrastructure needs in the U.S., but they are not uniform…
Roll Call
5 Ways Congress May Try to Fix the Highway Trust Fund
Roll Call cited Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on mass transit. Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who will testify at Wednesday’s Ways…
Medium
Where Anti-Vaxxers and Anti-Vapers Meet
You might have more in common with anti-vaxxers than you want to believe. You might feel the need to reject the possibility because you would…
SCOTUS Blog
Wednesday Round-Up
SCOTUS Blog cited Senior Fellow Devin Watkins on Kisor v. Wilkie. At the Competitive Enterprise Institute blog, Devin Watkins suggests that after last week’s…
The Lars Larson Show
AUDIO: Michelle Minton Joins the Lars Larson Show
Senior Fellow Michelle Minton discusses vaping and seizures on The Lars Larson Show (1:30:25 mark)…
The Washington Times
Party Time at CEI
CNS News
Facebook Moves on from ‘Move Fast and Break Things,’ Calls for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…