Blog
Green New Deal Launched with Support from Democratic Presidential Candidates
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) held a press conference outside the Capitol building on February 7th to introduce their House and Senate resolutions for a…
Blog
Kids Climate Litigants Petition Court to Stop Fossil Fuel Development
Kelsey Juliana and her fellow litigants are the youngsters who, since 2015, have been suing the federal government to “prepare and implement an enforceable national remedial plan to…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The delayed State of the Union speech happened on Tuesday, but contained no surprises on the policy front. The length of the Federal Register doubled…
Blog
Net Neutrality Regulation Still a Bad Idea
The debate at today’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing was largely between making blocking, throttling, and fast lanes illegal and going further to…
Blog
VIDEO: Operation Choke Point Sets Dangerous Precedent
Our friends at the Federalist Society have an interesting new video out on legal businesses being targeted for government harassment because their products have become politically…
Blog
Amazon under Pressure to Accept Union
This week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Amazon employees should unionize, and that the company should welcome losing a direct line of…
Blog
House Climate Hearing off to Bad Start
The newly-minted environment and climate change subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing today titled “Time for Action: Addressing the Environmental…
Blog
Administrative Procedure Act Limitations: Process and Oversight Shortcomings
The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA) set up the foundation of the public consultation rulemaking procedure. Part one of this two-part glance at APA…
Blog
Fintech: A Bipartisan Priority for the 116th Congress
While the 115th Congress did not achieve all that was hoped for with regards to financial services reform, it did make important progress to achieving…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Midwest froze, but the Federal Register began to heat up. As I predicted earlier, the first three post-shutdown editions were slow. Then Thursday’s edition…
Blog
EPA’s Andrew Wheeler Appoints John Christy to Science Advisory Board
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler on January 31st announced the appointment of some 29 experts to serve on the agency’s Science Advisory Board…
Blog
Plastic Bag Ban Mania Will Do More Harm than Good
An anti-plastics craze has swept the country and the globe, prompting lawmakers to propose and impose bans on various plastic products—from straws to shopping bags…
Blog
VIDEO: Thanos Was Wrong about Humanity
Our friends at the American Enterprise Institute have a great video series in which they explain important issues, each in only 60 seconds. A very-short format like this…
Blog
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Soda Labeling Ban for Wrong Reasons
This week the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held unconstitutional the size requirement in San Francisco’s soda warning labeling regulation. However, there are broader…
Blog
Jobs Numbers Continue Generally Positive Trend
The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that the economy is continuing on a steady course, at least as far as…
Blog
The Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act
This week Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act, which would reduce the president’s authority to unilaterally enact new tariffs by…
Blog
Rep. Waters Reiterates Support for JOBS Act 3.0
In a major speech to a liberal group outlining her priorities as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) sharply criticized…
Blog
A Brief Outline of Undisclosed Costs of Regulation
In my recent Forbes column “Rule of Flaw and the Costs of Coercion: Charting Undisclosed Burdens of the Administrative State,” I discussed checks on the…
Blog
Administrative Procedure Act Limitations: Cost Measurement and Disclosure
U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III noted in a 2017 journal article that regulation sometimes contains “too much detail,” changes too “frequently and capriciously,” creates backlogs and…
Blog
The Shutdown Is Over: How Does that Affect Regulation?
During the partial shutdown, the Federal Register slowed to a crawl. Published every weekday, an average day’s edition consists of about 270 pages and contains…
Blog
Forecast: U.S. to Become Net Energy Exporter in 2020
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects the United States to become a net energy exporter in 2020. That is the “reference case” projection in…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Tech and Telecom
As technology and telecommunications evolve, new challenges inevitably arise for policy makers. New mandates or prohibitions should be avoided in all but the most exceptional…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The partial shutdown ended on Friday, though only on a three-week deal. This likely will not show up in the Federal Register’s page and rule…
Blog
Chuck Todd’s ‘Daily Show’ Comments Got It Wrong on the Climate Debate
Last night Chuck Todd went on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and was asked about his announcement on a recent episode of “Meet the…
Blog
Warren Wealth Tax Proposal Raises Constitutional Questions
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has proposed a new wealth tax. We don’t know a lot of details on what is being proposed, but what little…
Blog
VIDEO: Pacific Legal Foundation Stands up for Freedom of Falconry
Falconry has a long and noble heritage. During most of that time, however, it has been heavily regulated. In Medieval England, for example, only people…
Blog
New Cable Franchise Rules to Benefit Consumers
In September of last year, the Federal Communications Commission issued a further notice of proposed rulemaking clarifying how the amount that cities are allowed to…
Blog
Oregon Introduces Taxpayer-Funded Union Subsidy
Earlier this week, I took a look at legislation that has been enacted to undercut the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Janus v. AFSCME.
Blog
CEI Leads Coalition in Support of Nationwide Road Usage Charge Pilot Program
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sent a letter to Congress urging members to preserve and strengthen the users-pay/users-benefit highway funding principle and to establish a…
Blog
Courts Should Protect Economic Liberty Rights As Originally Understood
The prohibition on taking a person’s liberty without due process of law is enshrined in the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. But what does this…
Blog
What If Trump’s Regulations Exceed His Regulatory Rollback Savings?
President Donald Trump has pruned rules and costs at a quicker pace than other presidents. But could his other policies torpedo that?…
Blog
Would a TSA Strike Force an End to the Shutdown?
As the current partial federal government shutdown drags on and many federal employees continue to go without pay, some pundits have suggested that one way…
Blog
In Aftermath of ‘Janus’ Decision, Blue States Push Pro-Union Bills
Prior to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, government unions were already devising ways to keep members and dues flowing. In a…
Blog
EPA’s Wheeler Responds to Renewable Fuel Standard Questions
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held its confirmation hearing for acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler on January 16th. The Renewable Fuel…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week, people got worked up over hamburgers and a television commercial about razors. Meanwhile the partial federal shutdown continued, and a bill to introduce…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Banking and Finance
Perhaps one of the most under-appreciated aspects of our modern world is the fact that finance is fundamental to the operation of a free and…
Blog
VIDEO: Lower Shipping Costs, Repeal the Jones Act
The Jones Act, originally passed in 1920, is a law that requires ships that service U.S. ports to be entirely U.S. owned and operated. This…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Trade
President Trump’s doubling of tariffs has already cost the economy almost 1.8 percentage points of growth. That means 2018’s 3.4 percent third quarter growth could…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Energy and Environment
Wealthier is healthier—and environmentally cleaner as well. Despite the fact that the most prosperous nations are also the cleanest, and that prosperity is best achieved…
Blog
Brexit: The EU’s Gordian Knot Strangles May’s Government
When Rory Broomfield and I were examining the prospects for Britain leaving the European Union in 2014-16, we recognized that there was no easy way…
Blog
Department of Justice Disregards Intent of Congress on Internet Gambling
Congress was not vague in its intent when it enacted the Wire Act in 1961. The law, developed and supported by then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy,…
Blog
Supreme Court Should Review Oregon’s Discriminatory Fuel Pricing Rules
Last week, American fuel manufactures filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review a lower court decision upholding an Oregon law…
Blog
Time to Restore Traditional Joint-Employer Standard
This week the public comment period closes in regards to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) proposed rule to modify the standard for joint employment. This…
Blog
Teachers Paid to Walk Off the Job?
The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union contract negotiations with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have broken down. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl called…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Consumer Freedom
The second-to-last chapter in the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s agenda for the 116th Congress focuses on consumer freedom. Specifically, the chapter recommends ways Congress can rein…
Blog
Eliminate Obsolete Patented and Proprietary Products Regulation
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on behalf of CEI in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking on promoting innovation in…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
On Saturday the partial government shutdown became the longest ever. The news cycle was wall-to-wall wall and shutdown coverage, though Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) introduced…
Blog
Oregon Court Rebuffs Kids’ Climate Lawsuit
Oregon’s Court of Appeals ruled on 9th January that the public-trust doctrine does not impose a “fiduciary obligation” on the state to develop and implement…
Blog
Green New Deal: 626 Groups Send Congress a Back-to-Dark Ages Manifesto
Six-hundred twenty-six organizations, some of them major environmental groups, sent a letter to Members of the House of Representatives on January 10th that details their demands for…
Blog
VIDEO: What Beer Can Teach Us about Well-Crafted Laws
Our friends at the Federalist Society have released a fun and informative new short film on the history of beer and alcohol regulation. …
Blog
Reject U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act’s Presidential Power Grab
A forthcoming bill, the U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act, written by “Death by China” coauthor Peter Navarro and other presidential advisers, seeks to expand the president’s…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Regulatory Reform
The first chapter in the new Competitive Enterprise Institute agenda for Congress, “Free to Prosper,” is on regulatory reform. Most of the Agenda is about reforming…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: The Second Decade of Crypto-Blockchain
As cryptocurrency and the associated blockchain celebrate their tenth birthdays, CEI’s new “Free to Prosper” agenda for the 116th Congress aims to ensure bureaucratic red…
Blog
Introducing a Free-Market Agenda for Accountability and Prosperity
The governance of American life has been handed over to an operating system that subtly and perversely drives individuals’ behavior away from their own decisions.
Blog
The Legacy of Economist Harold Demsetz (1930-2019)
Economist Harold Demsetz, a Chicago school theorist who was one of the pioneers of the approach now called New Institutional Economics, had died. The former…
Blog
Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Changes to Mercury Air Rule
On December 28th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to rescind the Obama EPA’s justification for its 2012 Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule. MATS…
Blog
A Free-Market Agenda for the 116th Congress
After a contentious election season, we look forward to the nation’s elected representatives rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. Divided party control in…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Right now is a weird time for regulation. The shutdown has lasted for several business days, and the Federal Register has slowed to a trickle.
Blog
Iconic NYC Bookstore Owner Pleads: Don’t Landmark My Property
Our friends at Reason have been following a fascinating story unfolding in New York City, in which a business owner is trying to fend off what many people would…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Consumer Financial Protection
2018 was a big year for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (also known, for a while, as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection). The past year…
Blog
End of the Road for Net Neutrality Comeback Attempt
The end of the 115th Congress meant the end of using the Congressional Review Act to void the Federal Communication Commission’s repeal of Obama-era net…
Blog
Great Jobs Numbers Don’t Assuage Trade War Worries
Today’s jobs numbers were a surprise to everyone—312,000 jobs added in December was almost twice the consensus view of economists of 176,000. Strong wage growth…
Blog
What’s on Tap for Trade in 2019
At noon today, the 116th Congress convened. Over at Fox Business, Iain Murray and I look at what the coming year has in store for…
Blog
The 2019 Unconstitutionality Index
Even in an administration attempting to cut regulation, the number of rules from hundreds of federal agencies (nobody really knows exactly how many) will vastly outstrip the…
Blog
Trump’s 2018 Deregulatory Effort: 3,367 Rules, 68,082 Pages
At year-end 2018, how is President Donald Trump’s regulatory reform project going?…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The shutdown continued all through Christmas week. But because the Federal Register works on a few days lag for many of its publications, it still…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Climate Policy
The Trump administration this year took additional steps to dismantle key components of President Obama’s climate policy “legacy.” Supporting and guiding those efforts is a…
Blog
VIDEO: What Qualifies as a ‘Water’ of the United States?
Our friends at the Regulatory Transparency Project have created a great new video to help explain the legal impact of the Clean Water Act and…
Blog
An Executive Order to Shine Light on Dark Matter
Over at The Hill, Wayne Crews and I make the case for an executive order that would limit executive power. It’s more plausible than it…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Clashing over Commerce
Douglas Irwin’s magnum opus, published at the end of 2017, is already a classic. Given the prominent role trade is playing in politics right now, it…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Internet Sales Tax
On June 21, 2018, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed fifty years of precedent by allowing states to collect sales taxes…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In an eventful week that included criminal justice reform, shutdown drama, and cabinet drama, this year’s new regulations exceeded 2017’s total with more than a…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Trade Policy
2018 was the year in which President Trump began to implement his campaign promises of using tariffs to change America’s trade policy. The ostensible reason…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Life after Google
Are Tucker Carlson’s predictions of Google taking over the future keeping you up at night? Sooth yourself with the creative destruction described in “Life after…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Antitrust
If 2018 was a bad year for antitrust skeptics, 2019 promises to be worse. We must hope that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Suicide of the West & Enlightenment Now
Goldberg’s “Suicide of the West” is a literate, snappily written, and often humorous defense of Enlightenment values and a broadside against populism. Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Transportation Policy
CEI had a busy year in the transportation policy trenches. We worked at the federal, state, and local levels on a variety of projects. Below…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Factfulness
Think Julian Simon, Matt Ridley, and Steven Pinker’s data-driven optimism, mixed with Michael Shermer and Bryan Caplan’s awareness of human cognitive biases, as told by…
Blog
Kent Lassman’s Christmas Wish List
The holiday season is a good time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished and what we can look forward to in the next year. That’s…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Labor and Employment
There was a mix of good and bad news in the labor and employment policy space in 2018. A tremendous gain was made in the…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Operation Choke Point
Every Halloween, there exists the temptation for commentators to describe routine events in the news with adjectives like “scary” and “frightening.” Sensitive to sounding clichéd…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Judicial Fortitude
My pick for one of the best books of this year is “Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State” (Encounter Books,…
Blog
EPA Takes on Costly, Unnecessary Wood Heater Regulations
The Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency cranked out so many bad major rules that it was hard to pay attention to all the also-bad, but relatively…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A partial federal shutdown looks more likely than it did a week ago, the federal deficit will likely top $1 trillion next year, and Theresa…
Blog
CEI Takes on Antitrust
There is a concerted effort from elements on both sides of the political aisle to use antitrust law to regulate and ultimately break apart Big…
Blog
Attacks on Trump Administration Environmental Federalism Fall Short
Today’s Energy & Environment News (subscription required) has an article titled “Wheeler preaches federalism on water, not cars.” The gist is that various critics claim…
Blog
5 Myths about E-cigarettes and Public Health
My colleague Michelle Minton recently released an excellent new study on the health impact of e-cigarettes and why some people are misrepresenting the risks involved…
Blog
Infrastructure Bill Should Attack Climate Red Tape, Not Increase It
Enacting legislation will be more difficult in next year’s divided Congress, but an infrastructure bill is something that could get done. Democrats and Republicans may be…
Blog
New Joint Employer Rule Means More Jobs, Not Lower Wages
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in the process of implementing a regulation that would restore the traditional standard for when a worker is…
Blog
Report from United Nations Climate Conference: Heckling the Hecklers
Katowice, Poland—“Le temps est mauvais,” an African delegate told a colleague as they wrapped themselves up against the early evening chill. The weather wasn’t as…
Blog
85 Years after Repeal, Prohibition Lingers in Your Beer
On December 5, 1933 the federal government’s nationwide prohibition against alcohol ended. Eighty-five years later, the beer market seems to have finally recovered. Today, there…
Blog
Top Ten Antitrust Targets
Columbia University professor Tim Wu is author of the new book The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, which calls for a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Former President George H.W. Bush was laid to rest, and no Federal Register was published on Wednesday. President Trump created a new superhero, Tariff Man,…
Blog
American Association for Justice Places Trial Lawyer Interests over Saving Lives
The bipartisan AV START Act would create the first national highly automated vehicle regulatory framework in the U.S. This legislation is necessary to speed deployment…
Blog
Five Priorities for New BCFP Director
Kathleen Kraninger was confirmed as director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. She has promised to implement a free market reform agenda, focusing on…
Blog
Fighting for Small Business: Whiskey Edition
This week marks the 85th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, and we still have a lot to learn from that dismal experiment in government overreach.
Blog
How Realistic Is National Climate Assessment’s Worst Case Scenario?
How realistic is the National Climate Assessment’s worst-case emissions scenario? A report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday sheds some interesting…
Blog
Last-Minute Delay in CVS-Aetna Deal Could Threaten Consumer Benefits
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon surprised many on Monday when he announced he may halt the integration of CVS pharmacy’s assets with the nation’s…
Blog
Don’t Blame Google for a Feature Consumers Want
It’s very rare I disagree with the great freedom-loving journalist John Stossel, but his column at Townhall this week made me raise an eyebrow. In…
Blog
Senate Democrats’ Report Misses Mark on Mulvaney
While President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Kathleen Kraninger, awaits a final confirmation vote in the Senate, Senate Democrats have…