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FDA Issues Commonsense Federal Guidance on Nutrition Labeling
While it might not be ideal, it’s an improvement on the former scenario—a sprinkling of common sense on an otherwise foolish regulation.
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Property Rights of Fannie and Freddie Shareholders—Including Small Investors—Must Be Respected
Private investors should never be guaranteed any type of government bailout. At the same time, they should not have their property and contract rights violated.
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Politicians and Entrepreneurs: Let Internet Flourish without Burden of Government Regulation
If government is the creator of monopolies and the suppressor of innovation, why not push back against both FCC and FTC regulation of the Internet? …
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Trump Administration Releases Obama-Era Junk Climate Science Reports
Three recently-released White House reports were essentially prepared by the Obama Administration to support President Obama’s climate agenda. They are full of junk science. …
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Energy Company Efforts in Hurricane Harvey Recovery
Sometimes it's good to have an oil company for a neighbor.
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National Sandwich Day: Get a Great Deal, Celebrate a Big Consumer Win
There's a new aspect of National Sandwich Day to appreciate this year—the big win for consumers in a spoiled class action settlement deal against sandwich…
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Pennsylvania Becomes the Fourth State to Legalize Online Gambling
This past Monday, October 30, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill legalizing Internet gambling throughout the state. The move makes the Keystone State the…
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Carbon Tax: Political Poison for the Conservative Movement
The struggle for hearts and minds in this country is to no small degree a contest between a movement that is pro-energy and anti-tax and…
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A ‘Personal Appeal’ to President Trump to Fire CFPB’s Cordray
Yesterday, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray released a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to veto Congress’ recent anti-arbitration rule resolution.
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V2V Mandate Nixed: DOT Ends Second Most Costly U.S. Regulatory Proposal
the U.S. Department of Transportation will not promulgate a costly new regulation, setting the stage for withdrawal of its notice of proposed rulemaking mandating new…
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A New Day in Labor-Management Relations
While it is important for the NLRB to restore longstanding precedent that was upended, Congress needs to pass legislation that ensures worker freedom and relieves…
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Ghouls and Goblins and Guidances
You could consider CEI to be the Ghostbusters of Washington, fighting back ghouls and goblins on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.
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EPA Administrator Pruitt Cleans Up Advisory Committees
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt today is going to announce a new agency policy whereby independent science advisors cannot be funded by agency grants.
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House Passes Two Bills to Reform EPA Settlement Abuse
By a 238-183 bipartisan vote on October 24, the House of Representatives passed the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017 (H.R. 732).
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EPA Releases Report on Pro-Growth Energy-Related Actions
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week released a report on its actions to implement President Trump’s “Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and…
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Pressure Grows to Reform Bank SIFI Designations
What makes a bank risky? While a simple question, the answer is anything but. As the 2008 crisis proved, managing risks in the financial system…
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How Government Unions Plan to Keep Members and Dues Flowing After Janus
Government unions are preparing for a world where they can no longer force non-members to pay dues in the public sector. That is because a…
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Federal Communications Commission Rightly Relaxes Media Ownership Rules
The FCC’s announcement that it will relax media ownership rules is good news for consumers. It’s heartening to see the agency act to eliminate…
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New York Times’ Eric Lipton Smears EPA Chemical Office Official Nancy Beck
Recently, Project Veritas released a series of undercover videos that reveal how New York Times journalists are more interested in smearing the Trump administration…
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Why Congress Should Block the CFPB Payday Loan Rule
Republicans have been looking for a political win for a while. They finally got one this week by overturning the Consumer Financial Protection…
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Illinois Outlaws Local Worker Freedom Laws
Employers in Illinois really didn’t need another reason to bypass or move out of the state, but the legislature gave them one. On October 24,…
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New York’s Anti-Science Vape Ban Will Not Reduce Smoking Rates or Save Lives
Thanks to the education efforts of public health activists, today few Americans are now unaware of the dangers of smoking. As a result, cigarette use…
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Will New Zealand Forget the Benefits of Economic Freedom?
As an Australian, there are two things I have always admired about New Zealand—their remarkable national rugby team and their stunning embrace of…
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Testimony on Trump’s Executive Orders and Regulatory Task Forces before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives House Oversight and Government Reform Committee conducted a hearing entitled “Regulatory Reform Task Forces Check-In,” to which I…
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Senate Set to Vote to Block CFPB’s Harmful Arbitration Rule
After months of speculation, the Senate will today vote to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule banning financial institutions from including arbitration clauses…
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Government Regulation is Not the Answer to the Equifax Hack
The recent Equifax hack has placed an enormous amount of pressure on legislators to further regulate the credit-reporting industry. While such a response may be…
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Treasury: CFPB’s Arbitration Rule Falls Short
The Department of the Treasury has released its analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Arbitration Rule, which bans the use of…
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Time to Eliminate Hidden Taxpayer Support of Union Activities
Tax dollars should exclusively support the public’s business. But a Mackinac Center for Public Policy open records request show this is not the case in…
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EPA Administrator Pruitt’s Welcome Efforts to End Sue and Settle
On October 15, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a directive taking on the practice known as “sue and settle,” whereby environmental…
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Senate Budget Resolution Breathes Life into ANWR
By a 51-49 vote, the Senate this past week passed a budget resolution that creates a fast-track process for writing legislation to permit drilling in…
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Would Coal Miners Do Better Under Obama than Trump?
That’s allegedly the big takeaway from a presentation given on Tuesday, October 17, to the Energy Bar Association by Brattle Group analyst Marc Chupka.
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The Importance of an Under-the-Radar Supreme Court Case on Sports Betting
New Jersey tried to repeal its own law against sports gambling, but a federal law banning sports gambling was used to stop New Jersey’s voters…
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An Appreciation: Atlas Shrugged at 60
Sixty years ago this month, Ayn Rand’s monumental novel, Atlas Shrugged, was published. It helped a vast number of people around the world to become…
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Congress Should Fix Fintech Lending Model
The House Financial Services Committee marked up a whopping 22 bills last week. While many are noteworthy, such as ending Operation Choke Point, repealing…
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Tax Reform Offers Opportunity to Boost Economic Growth
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Former U.K. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson Outlines the Environmental Benefits of Brexit
On October 4, 2017, Owen Paterson MP, who until 2014 was the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, visited…
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My Take on Energy Department’s Prompt Letter to FERC
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the federal agency responsible for regulating interstate power flows, but the Federal Power Act authorizes the Department of…
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Cook County, Illinois Voters not Fooled by Soda Tax’s Empty Promises
Less than two months after implementing a new “soda tax,” lawmakers in Cook County, Illinois, are repealing the cent-per ounce tax. The Washington Post…
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An Anniversary Toast for I, Whiskey
It’s been a tremendous year since we released I, Whiskey on YouTube and Facebook and co-hosted our red carpet premiere with the Distilled Spirits Council…
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Overcoming Regulatory Barriers to Serving the Underserved
How many people are pushed to the fringes of the banking system by Dodd-Frank regulations? How will the CFPB's new regulations prevent the underserved from…
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Fighting for Our Right to Party at WhiskeyFest
Don’t be afraid of sticking up for your favorite things – there’s always someone looking for the weakest target to tax, regulate, and restrict. If…
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Pension Liabilities Bite in the Present, Too
Politicians should close underfunded public employee pension funds to new enrollees and offer new hires other options, such as defined contribution or hybrid plans.
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Joint Employer Deception from Democrats
Democrats in Congress need to be honest about their opposition to restoring a commonsense joint employer definition.
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House Members Repeat False Claims about Passenger Facility Charges
The current Senate Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill is a step forward on modernizing airport financing and governance in the U.S.
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Financial Transactions Tax Not the Answer for Africa
French President Emmanuel Macron is advocating for a Europe-wide tax on financial transactions to fund more foreign aid for Africa.
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Congress Should Roll Back New Payday Loan Rule
The hysteria in Washington around the release of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final short-term, small-dollar loan rule has been immense.
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EPA Proposes Clean Power Plan Repeal Rule
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will soon release the agency’s proposed rule to repeal the Clean Power Plan.
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Past-Due Nomination of EPA’s Number Two Official Is Welcome News
President Donald J. Trump nominated Andrew R. Wheeler to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on October 5th. Wheeler has worked since…
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New Study on Self-Dealing at the IPCC
According to a new study published this week in the journal Scientometrics, an in-depth analysis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s AR5 report…
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CEI Calls on EPA to Reconsider More-Stringent Fuel Economy Standards
On Thursday, October 5, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding its Final Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of greenhouse…
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New Research, Same Story: Government Housing Policy Doesn’t Work
The Urban Institute today published an updated report, titled Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America. As part of the project, the authors highlight…
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Small Business Needs Relief from Federal ‘Joint Employer’ Scheme
Today, the Save Local Business Act was approved by the House Education and Workforce Committee, a great step forward from clearing up the confusion caused…
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Limiting Federal Control over State Policy: Christie v. N.C.A.A.
Our friend Damon Root over at Reason has a round-up of three important cases that will be decided in the Supreme Court’s upcoming term. One…
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Executive Order Disbands National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations
President Trump has signed an executive order disbanding the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations.
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A Good START for Automated Vehicle Technology that Should Extend to Trucking
Last week, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced the American Vision for Safer Transportation Through Advancement of Revolutionary…
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Cut Red Tape and Save Lives by Regulating Tobacco Alternatives Based on Risk
At the beginning of the year, President Trump issued an Executive Order aimed at cutting red tape. The order directs federal agencies to set…
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Public Health Community, Heal Thyself
We owe a debt of gratitude to the public health movement. Without its research and advocacy, we would not have learned to stop the spread…
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Bank Regulatory Relief in Time for White House ‘Deregulation Day’
Happy Deregulation Day! Today, the Trump administration is celebrating the benefits of an America liberated from red tape. As I mentioned in a blog…
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End Federal Pressure for Racial Quotas in Special Education
No child should be barred based on her race from a public education program needed to address her learning disabilities or educational deficits. But the…
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Red Tape Rollback: Trump Least-Regulatory President Since Reagan
The Trump mode has been to regulate bureaucrats rather than the public. New, large-scale regulation has largely stopped in 2017, and where it hasn’t, new…
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President Trump Outlines ‘American Model’ Tax Code
On Friday, September 29, President Trump outlined his tax reform package in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in Washington, D.C.
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Celebrate National Coffee Day
In the modern American workplace, many people see coffee as essential to productivity and for socializing around the coffee machine, which makes it unsurprising that…
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Bank Regulator Report: ‘Arbitration Rule’ on Credit Cards Will Raise Costs on Consumers
A new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency refutes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s argument that its Arbitration Rule will have…
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What White House ‘Deregulation Day’ Can Do for Finance and Banking
On Monday the Trump Administration is launching the first ever Deregulation Day, highlighting the benefits of an America liberated from bureaucracy.
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Taxes, Welfare, and Economic Inequality
At a time when comprehensive tax reform is dominating news headlines, concerns about income inequality and the distributional effects of future tax changes are again…
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Senate Introduces Regulatory Relief for Regional Banks
Removing burdensome restrictions on regional and community banks will ensure financial stability while helping local communities prosper.
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Nine Years on from the Financial Crisis and We’re No Safer
The real cause of the 2007-08 financial crisis was overwhelmingly the product of government intervention.
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Bailout Mentality Persists in International Banking Despite Reform Attempts
Europe, in an effort to ensure that the next banking crisis would not end in a taxpayer bailout, created bail-in rules and started performing stress…
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No Reason for Denying Puerto Rico a Jones Act Waiver
The Trump administration should immediately grant a Jones Act waiver to Puerto Rico and Congress should fully repeal the maritime cabotage prohibition.
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Fat-Cat Attorneys’ Bogus Arguments on Arbitration Rule
Fat cat class-action attorneys and their apologists are getting desperate.
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Coupon Settlements: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Coupon awards are notoriously bad for consumers in class action settlements. So bad that Congress targeted such relief, among other class action abuses, in the…
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Shining a Light on Bureaucratic ‘Dark Matter’
Federal agencies produce guidance documents, proclamations, memoranda, bulletins, circulars, letters—all with the force of the law but with no oversight from Congress.
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Crafting a Sensible Overtime Rule
It is important that the Trump administration avoid the pitfalls the Obama Department of Labor fell into on overtime regulation.
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Sen. Reed’s Harmful and Foolish Opposition to Arbitration in Consumer Finance Disputes
Sen. Reed and his allies are using hard cases to put the interests of trial lawyers above the interests of a free people.
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Education Department Withdraws “Dear Colleague” Letter Restricting Student and Faculty Rights
The Education Department recently withdrew two famous examples of regulatory “dark matter” issued during the Obama administration.
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Sen. Graham’s Perplexing Pivot to a Carbon Tax
Lindsey Graham's enthusiasm for a carbon tax may be less popular than he imagines.
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White House Officials Raise New Hopes that U.S. Will Stay in Paris Climate Treaty
The Wall Street Journal set off a kerfuffle early Saturday evening, September 16, when it sent out an email news alert headlined, “Trump Administration…
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CEI Comments: Volcker Rule Has Failed to Make Financial System More Stable
CEI submitted comments on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) proposed revision to the Volcker Rule, a federal regulation that bans…
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Might Australian Financial Regulators Finally Embrace Greater Competition?
Over the past few weeks, I have been rather critical of the state of financial regulation in Australia. A banking scandal earlier this month revealed…
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Human Freedom Is Key to African Prosperity
Earlier this week at a presentation to the Cato Institute, authors Greg Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Dickie Davis, discussed their new book…
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Google Employees Hear Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Everyone, especially Silicon Valley's tech elite, needs to understand the human value of fossil fuels.
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The Never-Ending Title IX Investigation
Los Angeles lawyer Ken White notes that a professor is being “investigated for writing about being investigated for writing about being investigated.” This Title…
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One Solution to the CFPB’s Problems: Pass the Financial CHOICE Act
My new paper, The Case against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Unconstitutionally Structured and Harmful to Consumers, which is out today, makes the case…
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Debit Cards Fee Limits Have Big Impact on Payday Loans and Overdraft Charges
Seven years on from the inception of the Durbin Amendment, it has pushed nearly a million consumers out of formal financial services by raising the…
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Poll: Americans Don’t Trust Big Bank Regulators
Bank regulators should foster an environment of financial competition, where institutions compete on the merits of their products and bear their own risks, instead of…
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Will Government Union Gravy Train Come to an End?
No worker should be forced to financially support an organization against his or her will. For too long, government employee unions have possessed the power…
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Ending the Myth of ‘Too Much’ Bank Competition
It’s time to let the idea that too much competition is bad for financial stability finally die.
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Is Global Warming Causing More Hurricanes?
Are this year’s round of hurricanes evidence that we’re entering an age of climate catastrophe? Recent commentary and analysis from CEI experts suggests not.
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Former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman: Partisan of EPA Overreach
Gov. Whitman supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and was in favor of the Obama administration's so-called Clean Power Plan.
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Renewable Energy Update: Rolling Blackouts Down Under
Australia’s green energy policies are under siege and California has been stymied in its grid power grab.
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House Passes Riders to Block Social Cost of Carbon and EPA Methane Rule
The House of Representatives this week finished voting on amendments to the Interior-EPA appropriations bill.
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Civil Rights Experts Issue Report on Unjustified Federal Meddling in Education
The Obama administration attempted to micromanage educational institutions by imposing new rules that never went through the legally-prescribed rulemaking process.
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CEI Offers Recommendations to Improve Senate’s AV START Act
The draft legislation is another welcome early step from the federal government on self-driving vehicles.
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Beacon Center Nominated for Templeton Freedom Award
Congrats to the hard-working folks of the Beacon Center of Tennessee for their “Tackle the Hall Tax” advocacy campaign…
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Ohio Drug Price Initiative Gives Taxpayer Money to Unnecessary Lawyers
Lawyers and allied interest groups have long enriched themselves at taxpayers’ expense. But usually, it has been by bringing lawsuits, not defending them.
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Missouri’s $5 Billion State Pension Underfunding Shows Results of Faulty Accounting
Government pension managers should calculate the state contribution using a more realistic rate-of-return estimate.
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Washington Post Profile on CEI Climate Work Misses Half the Story
The Post’s story was weeks in the making, and although it gets some things right, the story continually injects presumptions and bias, resulting in an…
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Conservatives & Libertarians to GOP: Time to Evolve on Marijuana Policy
A bill introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) will prevent the Department of Justice from using taxpayer dollars to prosecute medical marijuana…
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Clinton’s ‘What Happened’ Latest Evidence that Climate Mitigation Policy Is Political Poison
Climate change policy is opposed by healthy bipartisan majorities.
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NHTSA Releases Improved Federal Automated Driving System Guidance
The Department of Transportation is putting its money where its mouth is in preventing overregulation of automated driving systems.