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CEI Commends Rep. King’s Amendment to Halt Enforcement of Davis-Bacon
This week, the House is scheduled to vote on the Fiscal Year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill (H.R. 5538). CEI commends Rep. Steve King’s…
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New York Times Editorial Board Crashes into Automated Vehicles
In light of Tesla’s foolish decision to rush distraction-causing, low-level automation technology to car consumers, which has resulted in at least one fatality and several…
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How to Hoist Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Lieu on their own Petards
Nineteen Senators led by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) yesterday launched a series of floor statements denouncing fossil fuel companies and more than 30 conservative and free-market…
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Primer on the Separation of Powers Restoration Act
The House today will vote on H.R. 4768, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA). This bill would direct courts to stop giving controlling respect…
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The Climate Change Debate and the Alarmists’ Addiction to Tobacco Analogies
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Opportunities for the Environmental Entrepreneur
I had the honor to chair a panel and speak at the 10th ICREI conference in France on environmental issues last week. This year’s conference…
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NLRB Overturns Precedent, Makes Organizing Two Workplaces At Once Easier
In a case involving Browning-Ferris Industries, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision overturned longstanding precedent regarding joint employer status—when two employers in a contractual…
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House Judiciary Subcommittee Assesses OMB Review of Federal Regulations
Last week on July 6, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Sub-Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law conducted a hearing on…
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RealClear Radio Hour: War on Cancer
In this week’s episode of RealClear Radio Hour, we tackle the war on cancer. Disruptive innovators, Stephen Bonner and Paul Davies, confront bureaucracy and big…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a short work week due to the Fourth of July holiday, but agencies still managed to issue new rules covering everything from stormwater…
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Obama Officials Spin Paris Treaty as Done Deal
Two prominent Obama administration officials tried to spin the Paris climate treaty as a done deal this week. In an interview with ClimateWire ($) on 5th…
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House Science Committee Presses Climate Inquisitors
House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) on 6th July sent follow-up letters to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Massachusetts AG Maura Healey, and eight…
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House Appropriations Bills Try To Block Obama’s Anti-Energy Climate Agenda
The Interior-EPA appropriations bill, which the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider on the floor next week, contains a number of riders that if enacted…
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Southern Company Power Plant Investigation Misses Larger Policy Scandal
The New York Times this week released the results of an investigation of Southern Company’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) power plant in Kemper, Mississippi.
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The Custody Battle for Your Internet Privacy
Google, Facebook, and YouTube; how do these large websites stay free? Internet advertising is part of a huge economy of $27.5 billion that allows the…
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Bringing Transparency to Union Subsidies
Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) and Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) have co-sponsored legislation this session to ensure reporting of federal employees using “official time,” the practice…
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Dear RegBlog: Special Interests Can Capture Agencies, Too
Regulatory capture occurs when special interests coopt the power of the state in order to advance their narrow interests at the expense of the public…
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The Military and ATC Corporation? No Big Deal
Guest post by Robert Poole Robert Poole is Director of Transportation Policy at Reason Foundation and a member of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) National…
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Another Reporter Revises History of Congressional Climate Policy
Over at BNA Energy and Environment Blog, Dean Scott has an interview with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). At one point, the discussion turned to a…
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Minimum Wage Increases Inequality, Decreases Labor Force Participation
The minimum wage actually increases inequality. It helps some workers, but only at others’ expense.
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Testimony on Regulatory Budgeting before the House Budget Committee
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee conducted a hearing on An Introduction to Regulatory Budgeting, and I was invited to testify by Chairman…
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Obama Finally Campaigns on Climate Change (for Someone Else)
A theme that I’ve visited frequently in the past is the illegitimacy of President Obama’s climate agenda. To recap, Obama ran away from climate change…
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Food Safety Experts Critical of GMO Labeling Bill
In an open letter released today, several food safety experts warned of the problems with a new Senate bill that would regulate the labeling of…
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My One Agreement with Sen. Warren: Federal Rulemaking Should Be Transparent
In my two previous posts, I picked apart Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s allegation that notice and comment rulemakings are unfairly tilted in the favor of regulated…
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More Wrongheadedness from Sen. Warren on Notice and Comment Rulemakings
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, federal agencies are required to undertake certain procedures when they promulgate rules of general applicability.
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Sen. Warren’s Baseless Criticism of Notice and Comment Rulemaking
In a recent blog post about “regulatory capture,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed that notice and comment rulemaking is unduly biased towards regulated parties.
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Court Rejects Government Transparency Loophole Manufactured by Obama Administration
Do federal agencies have the right to shield their records from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) just by transmitting work-related documents via private email?…
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‘Crexit’ Votes Will Help U.S. Entrepreneurs and Investors
In yet another blow against the Brexit chicken littles, not only have the large British companies comprising the FTSE 100 gained back all the losses…
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Another Anti-Union Conservative Swings at Air Traffic Control Reform and Misses
Most free market and libertarian researchers—at least those familiar with what the House’s AIRR Act (H.R. 4441) actually does and doesn’t do—are…
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RealClear Radio Hour: Jobs, Stats, and Monetary Machinations
This week we go behind the scenes: gathering Federal employment numbers, uncovering the relationship between inflation and jobs, and debating the apparent impotence of central…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Maybe the recently-passed Congressional Review Act deadline we wrote about earlier hasn’t had much effect on midnight regulators.
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Feds Threaten the Independence of Small Business Owners
We value our independence in the country, and not just from imperial foreign governments like the British 240 years ago.
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Five Freedoms We Defend This Fourth
How are you celebrating Independence Day? Whether your plans involve a fireworks display or a barbecue with friends, we hope that this 4th of July…
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Exxon Mobil Is Lobbying for a Carbon Tax
Exxon Mobil has begun pushing actively for a carbon tax on Capitol Hill and with other oil companies, according to a story by Amy Harder and…
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EPA Inserts Central Planning into VW Settlement
EPA on Tuesday announced the final details of its settlement agreement with VW, the automaker that had illegally equipped 11 million diesel cars with software—known…
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Chicago Home-Sharing Rules a Loss for Residents
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel negotiated an armistice with the sharing economy last week. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have promised comply with the new rules, which…
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Congress on the Verge of Lowering Beer Taxes
By today’s standards, the Founding Fathers were outright lushes. Ben Franklin was apocryphally known for his love of beer (although it turns out wine was…
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Senate Gazes at Regulatory Dark Matter
The Senate Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management held a hearing yesterday, Examining the Use of Agency Regulatory Guidance, Part II, featuring testimony from…
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Toward a Regulatory Budget
How much should the U.S. government spend on defense? How much on health care? Or energy, or technology?…
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The Fight for Union Dues Independence
This holiday weekend, we celebrate the birth of our great country. Two hundred and forty years ago, the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence…
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Shake Up in Subpoena Land
This week turned out to be a momentous one in the saga of the climate change subpoenas.
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Will the Sharing Economy Give Us Greater Economic Mobility?
Last night the R Street Institute sponsored a fascinating policy panel here in Washington, D.C., “Boost or Barrier? Upward mobility in the on-demand economy.”…
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Federal Labor Agencies’ Actions Threatens Worker Opportunity
During the course of the Obama administration, federal labor agencies have turned labor and employment policy on its head via a slew of regulations, sub-regulatory…
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Federal Unions’ “Official” Waste of Tax Dollars
While unions representing government employees are still private entities, it is shocking just how much tax dollars they receive for performing union business that does…
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Examining Agency (Over)Use of Regulatory Guidance Documents
Today the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management conducted a hearing on "Examining the Use of Agency…
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Study Finds Non-Greenhouse Role for CO2 in Ice Age Cycles
Ellis and Palmer (2016), a study recently published in Geoscience Frontiers, sheds new light on the role of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the alternation…
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D.C. Government’s Transgender Guide Pressures Businesses to Violate Free Speech
The District of Columbia is now pressuring businesses to violate free speech in bizarre ways in the name of transgender rights.
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Investors Got into Fiduciary Rule Conversation Months before John Oliver Joined in
“Fiduciary Rule Goes Prime Time,” reads the headline of a recent cover story of the magazine Investment News. The story argues that after political comic…
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Nobel Prize Winners Denounce Greenpeace Opposition to GMOs
For decades, the environmental activist group Greenpeace has been among the most vocal, and oftentimes vicious, opponents of biotechnology and genetically engineered crops.
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Bill Frezza Wins Economic Writing Prize
Bill Frezza, host of RealClear Radio Hour and CEI fellow, was awarded the Foundation for Economic Education’s 2016 Beth Hoffman prize for economic writing for…
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Is Global Warming Killing America’s Oldest Oak Tree?
“The oldest white oak tree in the country is dying—and no one knows why,” proclaims the title of an article in today’s Washington Post. Yet…
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Democrats Block Zika Funding Bill
“Democrats block Zika funding bill, blame GOP,” reports Politico.
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D.C. Scheduling Law Would Have Done More Harm than Good
On Tuesday, D.C.’s City Council will consider scheduling legislation that would force companies to provide schedules at least 14 days in advance.
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Judge Halts Labor Department Persuader Rule for Now
A federal judge in Texas yesterday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing its “persuader rule,”…
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How CEI Is Defending Your Right to Speak Freely
Regardless of your position on any policy issue, the right to voice your opinion is a unique and fundamental element of American democracy.
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RealClear Radio Hour: Innovation Economy & State Fiscal Breakdown
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, guests Garrett Johnson and Eileen Norcross explain the importance of developing a more technologically nimble and fiscally responsible government.
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The 2016 Federal Register surpassed 40,000 pages last week, with new rules ranging from lights on farm equipment to grading raisins.
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Brexit and the Paris Treaty
What does the vote by Britons to leave the European Union mean for the Paris Climate Treaty, for green energy subsidies and mandates, and for…
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The True Losers of the Overtime Rule: Small Businesses
On June 23, 2016, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing over the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulation. The tone of the…
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Religious and Economic Liberty Are Intertwined
The massacre in Orlando was a tragic reminder that we’re at war—against hate, against extremism, and against intolerance. Although there are many contributing factors…
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Reps. Jolly, Massie, and Bilirakis Introduce Bill Supporting PFC Modernization
Reps. David Jolly (R-Fla.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) have introduced the Restoring Local Control of Airports Act of 2016 (H.R.
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Supreme Court Upholds Race-Based Social Engineering in Fisher v. University of Texas
Today, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Texas’s race-based admissions policy, which discriminates against white and Asian applicants.
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Groups Urge U.S. House to Nullify Wasteful Catfish Rule
In a coalition letter yesterday, 10 market-oriented groups, including CEI, urged the House leadership to call for a vote on S.J. Res. 28 to nullify…
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Coming Soon: International Mayors for Inconvenient Travel
While we wait to see whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sign legislation targeting home-share listings in New York, the governmental response to the sharing economy’s…
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New York Rules DFS a “Game of Skill,” Maintains Ban on Internet Poker
Human beings have been gambling since at least the dawn of recorded history and perhaps one of the most enduring games is poker.
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FAA’s Long-Delayed Drone Certification and Operations Rule Disappoints
This morning, the Federal Aviation Administration released a copy of its final rule on Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which is to…
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Interchange Debate Rears Its Head in Canada
The debate over the effects of interchange fees (the charges a bank levies on a merchant when one its customers uses a credit or debit…
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New York Legislature Piles on Fines for Home-Share Listings
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently reviewing legislation recently passed by the state’s Senate and Assembly that would establish new penalties for advertising one’s…
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Climate Change Witch-Hunt Expands to Include More Innocent Victims, As Conservative AGs Object
A climate-change witchhunt is expanding to include conservative groups that have never received a penny from Exxon. Attorney General Maura Healey is part of a…
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Soda Tax Won’t Fix Waste and Corruption in Philly
Last week Philadelphia enacted a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda to fund the Mayor’s proposed universal pre-kindergarten system and at the same time…
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New Joint Employer Standard Hurting Business of All Sizes
Recently, the business community aired their grievances about the National Labor Relations Board’s new joint employer standard in the form of briefs from Microsoft and…
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RealClear Radio Hour: Futurism and Genius
This week’s guests share a contagious, limitless optimism about our technological future and individual achievement.
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Congress Fights Back Against DOL Attack on Flexible Work and Small Business
Congress may have missed an opportunity to defund the Department of Labor’s overtime rule via the appropriations process, but they have not given up the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The 2016 Federal Register will surpass 40,000 pages next week, and is on pace to exceed 85,000 pages for the first time in its 80-year…
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Are Anti-Science Obama Administration Policies Fostering Zika?
Former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, who chairs the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, says the Obama administration is fostering Zika’s spread through anti-science…
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Building on the Optimism of “Uber-Positive” Attitudes
There’s a new resource for understanding the state of play between politics and developments in the sharing economy, the pleasantly slim volume by the Manhattan…
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Lawsuit Challenges Education Department Overreaching in College Discipline
A lawsuit was filed yesterday challenging a 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter in which the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights ordered many of the nation’s…
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Wireless Net Neutrality: You Were Warned
Hundreds of people have been burrowing into this week’s D.C. District Court of Appeals 2-1 decision giving the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) everything it wanted…
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FCC Cannot Rewrite Federal Law to Regulate the Internet
By upholding the entirety of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Open Internet Order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has sanctioned the…
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Obama’s Central Planning for Preschools Is Overreaching
A June 13th Washington Post article touts a recent document issued jointly by the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services that announcing that…
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Diana Furchtgott-Roth Still Mistaken on Air Traffic Control Reform
A lonely critique from the center-right of air traffic control corporatization appeared on MarketWatch making a series of incorrect and misleading claims. I have previously…
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Happy Magna Carta Day
801 years ago today in a peaceful meadow in England occurred the first act of the American Revolution.
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Why Shouldn’t the Energy Department Run the Entire Economy?
New Energy Department standards for dehumidifiers promise massive benefits. Depending on which set of numbers you prefer (the link goes to the Energy Department’s own…
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CEI Support for Rep. McHenry’s “Fix Crowdfunding Act”
Today, the House Financial Services Committee will likely be voting on Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Fix Crowdfunding Act, a much-needed expansion of the bipartisan Jumpstart Our…
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Congress Must Rein in FCC on Net Neutrality
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC’s 2015 “Open Internet Order” in US Telecom Association v. FCC.
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Huge Questions Remain in Brexit Debate
It is now looking as if the June 23rd vote on whether Britain will leave or remain in the European Union is too close to…
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“Open Internet” Ruling Will Encourage ISPs to Block Content
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Open Internet Order” which purports to implement “net neutrality”…
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Proposed Soda Tax a Bad Deal for Philadelphia Residents
This Thursday, Philadelphia’s city council is set to approve a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda. The goal of the tax is to raise…
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Attorney General Schneiderman’s Lame Defense of Speech-Chilling Climate Change Investigation
When a government official quotes a dissenting opinion that was on the losing side of history to justify a speech-chilling investigation, that’s a pretty clear…
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New Options for Regulatory Reform from Speaker Ryan
We here at the Competitive Enterprise Institute appreciate the release of the new report by the Task Force on Reducing Regulatory Burdens, issued as part…
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Schneiderman’s New Catchphrase for Free Speech: “First Amendment Opportunism”
Last Thursday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman delivered a speech (video below) at the Bloomberg Big Law Business Summit defending his investigation against claims…
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Speaker Ryan’s Deregulatory Report: Clamp Down on Federal Labor Agencies’ Overreach
Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) released his plan for how to modernize our federal regulatory system in order to jumpstart the economy. This is…
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Export-Import Bank Drama Continues
The Senate’s main business right now is the annual Defense Appropriations bill. The Export-Import Bank, or Ex-Im for short, might become part of that bill.
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The number of new regulations for the year exceeded the 1,500 mark last week, with new rules covering everything from seatbelts to suckerfish. On to the…
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Railroad Industry Releases New Economic Impact Report, Urges Regulatory Restraint
Today, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) released its latest State of the Industry Report, highlighting new research from Townson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute…
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RealClear Radio Hour: Common Sense Economics
At CEI’s 2016 annual dinner—A Night in Casablanca!—in DC, I caught up with three interesting gentlemen for a dose of common sense economics.
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Defending the Right to Donor Privacy
The campaign to safeguard the right to privacy for charitable donors is moving one step closer to reality. Last Friday was the deadline for members…
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Politically Correct Transgender Pronoun Mandates Violate First Amendment
The First Amendment is being violated by recent government demands that people use pronouns others than “he” and “she” to refer to their transgender peers.
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India Stops Short of Committing to “Join” Paris Treaty in 2016
President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi met on Wednesday to discuss energy-related issues including the Paris Climate Treaty. In contrast to the United…
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House Passes Resolutions Opposing Carbon Tax and Obama’s Oil Tax
The House of Representatives on 10th June passed two resolutions opposing taxation of fossil fuel consumption. The vote on H. Con. Res. 89, which expresses…