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Biden’s Fall 2024 Unified Agenda of regulations: The numbers, trends, and what’s next
The Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) dropped the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions this past weekend.
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Can Trump’s DOGE team outmaneuver regulatory dark matter?
As Donald Trump prepares for a second term, his administration inherits a far more expansive regulatory state than it did in 2017. As explored today…
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Biden breaks Federal Register record
Joe Biden’s administration has set a new Federal Register record with 96,088 pages as of December 3, 2024, surpassing the Obama administration’s 95,894 pages in…
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Fred Smith and the Hourglass of Market Evolution
Our much–loved CEI founder Fred L. Smith Jr. would often insist that we not refer merely to antitrust or antitrust policy, but…
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From cuts to costs: Why federal paperwork keeps piling up
The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) release of the 2023 Information Collection Budget (ICB) paints a troubling picture of not just of growing federal…
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Swamp things: Why DOGE moving Beltway agencies to states isn’t deregulation
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), expected to be established by president-elect Trump and led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to slash regulations,…
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Biden’s regulatory report is in, but key costs remain in the shadows
The election is over and among much else, federal regulations are emerging front and center for the incoming administration. While the federal debt sits…
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Biden’s 2024 Federal Register page count already second highest ever
We’ve not closed the Book of Regulation for 2024, Biden’s final calendar year in office, but we can mark a milestone nonetheless. The Federal Register…
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A 2024 CEI HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: A new inventory unmasking federal agency guidance documents
In my new Halloween-themed article at Forbes, I explore the eerie expanse of federal agency guidance documents. We have to try to have a…
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The compliance crisis: Unveiling the regulatory loopholes agencies love
While federal regulatory reform is critical, it’s equally important that existing oversight laws be followed. Unfortunately, many of these laws are routinely disregarded, with little…
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Kamala’s Opportunity Agenda for Black Men: Regulatory frameworks masquerading as economic help
Recent developments signal a troubling trend for America’s small businesses, one that could alter the nation’s entrepreneurial landscape in a big and detrimental way. The…
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Next time, let’s try emergency powers that shrink government
As the nation deals with the aftermath of successive natural disasters, the need for a renewed debate on federal emergency powers is increasingly clear. While…
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Pen and phone power: How presidential documents are changing the rules
Presidential executive orders and directives have long played a pivotal role in shaping federal policies and regulations. As President Obama famously remarked in 2014, “I’ve…
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Congress decides, not agencies: The significance of the REINvented REINS Act
It’s been repeated a million times that in our constitutional republic, lawmaking power belongs to Congress. But over the years, this authority has increasingly shifted…
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Scaling deregulation: Can Trump achieve a 10-for-1 rule elimination?
In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump pledged if re-elected to eliminate—not two rules for every one added as he…
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Congress needs to fight the bureaucracy – and itself
After testifying before the House Committee on Administration in July on Congress in a Post-Chevron World, I received a series of Questions for…
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Congressional Review Act votes could claw back some of Biden’s regulations
As the Biden-Harris baton-passing administration approaches the final stretch of its first term, a critical deadline has passed that could render subsequent major federal rules…
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The social significance of the Consolidated Audit Trail
Personal privacy is important. The ability of citizens to communicate and do business with one another – and to do so with some degree of…
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Congress in a post-Chevron world
The House Committee on Administration conducted a regulatory reform hearing today entitled “Congress in a Post-Chevron World.” The title refers to the anticipated sea…
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How major rules are surging under the Biden administration
We’ve taken a look at the total numbers of significant regulations issued this year in the Biden administration as well as at the subsets…
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Anticipating post-Chevron federal power moves
In a series of landmark rulings just before Independence Day (SEC v. Jarkesy, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, and Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of…
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Takeaways from Biden’s new Spring 2024 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
At the end of the July 4th holiday weekend, the Biden administration Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Spring 2024 edition of the…
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Reflecting on independence: More than fireworks and barbecues
As we enjoy barbecues, fireworks, and parades on the Fourth of July, we also reflect upon the deeper significance of our nation’s Independence Day and…
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Can moderators ask debate questions that don’t presume a progressive policy agenda?
Numerous policy issues are shaping this year’s first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as the entire campaign atmosphere. These include…
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Biden-era unfunded and funded mandates alike are co-opting state and local priorities
Policymakers are increasingly aware of the federal red tape burden on small businesses, but they should also recognize its emergent implications for state and…
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Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a December 2023 report titled “Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal…
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The end of the ‘economically significant’ rule
Friends and allies in the liberty movement still often refer to high-cost regulations from the Biden administration as “economically significant” rules. What…
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The federal government’s shift toward controlling small business
Recent proclamations by the Biden administration have revealed a worrying shift in the federal government’s attitude toward America’s small businesses. In a new column…
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New bill would increase spending transparency, more regulatory transparency needed
Galileo may not have uttered the famous words, “Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so,” but the sentiment behind that admonition…
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Navigating the maze of federal regulations in 2024: What to know
In a bureaucratic whirlwind, the 2024 Federal Register is attaining new heights, topping 41,000 pages today. An unsettling new norm for the past few weeks…