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GOP Climate Bill Does Carbon Capture and Storage Actually Reduce Emissions
The American Enterprise Institute this week published A Critique of the House Republican Climate Policy Proposals by AEI economist Benjamin Zycher. Zycher finds that the…
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COVID-19 Relief Bill Passes without Frivolous Green Baggage
The Senate passed a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief and economic stimulus bill by a 96-0 vote. The House passed the bill by voice vote on March 27. The…
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VIDEO: Reforming Antitrust for Global Competitiveness
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation recently hosted its latest virtual event, “Reforming Antitrust Policy for an Era of Global Competitiveness.” ITIF President Rob Atkinson…
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Financial Services Committee Democrats Release COVID-19 Wish List
This week, Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee unveiled their public policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While framed as a goodwill attempt at…
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Greenpeace’s Swing and Miss Reveals Its Hypocrisy about Health Risks from Reusable Bags
According to Greenpeace, my recent article on the sanitary benefits of single-use plastic bags is part of an effort to “exploit” COVID-19 fears and promote…
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Ninth Circuit Should Uphold Panel’s Decision to Dismiss Kids’ Climate Suit
The Department of Justice urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stand by its decision to dismiss the so-called Kids Climate Suit on the…
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Pandemic Economy: Toilet Paper Supplies Stretched, But Strong
American consumers, worried about the future of the coronavirus pandemic have continued to buy out available stocks of key products. However, temporary shortages are the…
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House Democrats’ Third Coronavirus Supplemental Appropriation Bill Is an Outrage
The Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act is the most irresponsible piece of fiscal legislation to come out of the profligate Congress for a…
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Gingrich Praise of Huawei is Dangerously Misguided
After attempting to cover up the spread of the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party is now engaged in a…
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Regulation, Not Offshoring, Is Hindering Industry from Ramping up Production
In his latest Bloomberg column, Noah Smith argues that offshoring production led to the current shortage of medical masks and equipment in the face of…
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The Next Alleged Environmental Threat: Coal Falling off Trains
Proponents of climate change are repurposing older statutes into climate policy tools, even though they were never intended for that purpose. The environmentalists’ goal is…
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Fly the (Greenhouse) Friendly Skies, If You Can Still Afford to under the House COVID-19 Bill
Airports haven’t been this empty since after 9/11, so it is not surprising that airlines would be recipients of tens of billions of assistance in…
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Minting Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coins Won’t Help Fight the Economic Downturn
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced legislation aimed at tackling the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Tlaib’s bill would give every single person in America…
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Need for More Wireless Spectrum Will Persist beyond COVID-19 Crisis with Introduction of 5G Technology
Last week, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T and US Cellular all asked the FCC for temporary access to additional spectrum to accommodate the recent increased demand for…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Governments are responding to the coronavirus with a getting rid of harmful regulations on restaurants, schools, and stores. Most of these rules were never needed…
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Don’t Save Restaurants by Shafting Consumers
Restaurants are among the hardest—if not the hardest—hit of industries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other industries, restaurants are lobbying Congress and state legislatures…
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Will Coronavirus Fuel or Derail Climate Agenda?
Fear and angst are contagious. With the coronavirus still spreading and the U.S. and global economies in danger of freefall, people may become more receptive…
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Federal Court Decision Underscores Need for NEPA Reform
The comment period has closed for the Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed updates to the implementing rules for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Many…
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Energy Special Interests Demand Handouts in Massive Coronavirus Stimulus Bill
Energy special interests began swarming the Capitol, as Congress passed a second emergency spending bill addressing the coronavirus pandemic and began to put together a $1 trillion or larger stimulus…
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Transportation Infrastructure Stimulus Is No Cure for Coronavirus Economic Slump
As we enter a new era of slapdash bailouts driven by a dangerous mix of panic, ignorance, and opportunism, we face a growing list of…
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A Billion Here, a Billion There …
Amidst all these temporary war powers, rules, regulations, commands, restrictions, bailouts, and stimulus packages, it is wise to remember the words of Milton Friedman: “Nothing…
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Post-Corona Politics: Opportunities and Threats
There is a lot of attention being paid to the latest emergency legislation being proposed to address the coronavirus pandemic, from $1,000 checks for every…
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Getting Rid of #NeverNeeded Regulations Hindering Coronavirus Response
What can Washington do to minimize harm from the coronavirus? Some of the best policy responses are coming not from imposing new regulations, but from…
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Toilet Paper Economics: Emergency Capitalism Still Better Than Normal Socialism
There are quite a few hot takes circulating at the moment about how grocery stores temporarily running out of toilet paper amid the current coronavirus…
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Liberty in the Time of Coronavirus Part 2
Much of the money dedicated to medical research and services comes from the federal government. While some may see this is a good way to…
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Liberty in the Time of Coronavirus Part 1
A recent headline at The Atlantic declared, “There are No Libertarians in an Epidemic.” But, just as there are atheists in foxholes, there are libertarians…
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Regulation, Confusion, and the Irony of Emergency COVID-19 Testing
By now, readers are aware that testing in the United States for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has been embarrassingly slow. Less well known is that…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a rough week. Coronavirus infections and deaths continued to climb. Wall Street is officially in a bear market, and Congress and President Trump…
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Federal District Court Upholds Constitutionality of California-Quebec Climate Pact
On February 12, Federal District Judge William B. Shubb rejected the Trump administration’s constitutional challenge to California’s greenhouse gas emission trading pact with Québec. Judge…
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Refrigerants Debate Moves to House
American consumers dodged a bullet when the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act failed to become part of the larger Senate energy package, which has stalled on…
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As Supreme Court Debates CFPB Constitutionality, Agency Accountability Hangs in the Balance
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week over the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and whether, as currently structured, it is too…
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Coronavirus and the Limits of “Flash Policy”
The coronavirus outbreak is serious, and it deserves a serious response. If you’re healthy, help people out. If you have elderly relatives or neighbors, reach…
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Sen. Toomey Defends Capitalism
This week Sen. Pat Toomey gave an excellent and much-needed speech at the Heritage Foundation on capitalism and its right-leaning critics. Toomey made clear that…
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Eleven Free Market Groups Submit Joint Comments on Proposed Updated NEPA Regulations
CEI and 10 other free market organizations submitted comments supporting the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Proposed Updated regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy…
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VIDEO: What Did “the Future” Hold for Public Policy in the 1980s?
The American Enterprise Institute has gone deep into its archives and posted dozens of old videos of roundtables and speeches going back, in some cases,…
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CEI Comments to FCC on Proposed Reallocation of 5.9 GHz Band
On March 9, CEI submitted comments to the FCC on its proposal to reallocate a portion of the 5.9 GHz band from Intelligent Transportation Systems…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Coronavirus continued to spread, the Democratic presidential field significantly narrowed, and the former head of the UAW was charged with embezzlement. Meanwhile, agencies issued new…
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New York Times’ Shoddy Reporting on Agency Skeptic
The New York Times recently ran an article titled “A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research.” The fact-checkers and editors dropped the ball on this…
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SEC’s Proposed Rules Would Take ETFs out of the Hands of Middle-Class Investors
CEI recently signed on to a coalition letter encouraging the Securities and Exchange Commission to abandon its plans to further regulate certain financial products and…
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CEI Scholars Warn EARN IT Act Will Weaken Online Protections
Today, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the EARN IT Act, a bill that ties critical intermediary liability protections for online platforms, known as Section…
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Locusts Threatening African Food Supply; Greens Oppose Only Solution
As billions of desert locusts swarm through East Africa and into Asia threatening the food supply of millions, environmental activists want to ban and regulate…
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Liberate to Stimulate 2020: Let’s Start with Trade
The past two weeks have seen a volatile market owing to concerns over coronavirus, which suggests an economic downturn could be on the cards. The…
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Washington’s Latest Attack on Air Conditioning
Think air conditioning isn’t expensive enough? Then you’ll love a proposed amendment to the Senate energy bill that restricts the refrigerants used in millions of…
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Big-Mouth CEOs Less of a Threat than Crusading Politicians
Free-market advocates are understandably skeptical of “stakeholder” capitalism—the idea that corporate managers should focus not just on returns to shareholders, but on pleasing a potentially…
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Joint Employer Rule Gives Much-Needed Certainty to Franchises
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule last week that will bring much needed relief and certainty to the franchise industry and other industries…
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Regulatory Hurdles Already Impeding Competition to Big Tech
Calls to regulate “big tech” firms continue to grow louder. Concerns range from the ability of these firms to influence the political landscape to allegations…
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A One-Stop Executive Order 13891 Guidance Document Portal
If agencies are required to compile and list all their sub-regulatory guidance documents and post, link and consistently index them on a portal, can we…
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EPA, Interior, and other Federal Agencies Post Guidance Documents on Searchable Websites
On February 28, the EPA and other federal agencies posted all their guidance documents on searchable websites, complying with an OMB deadline to implement Executive…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The coronavirus outbreak began to infect financial markets as well as people, with stock markets having their worst week since at least 2008. The number…
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May Common Sense Prevail: New York Delays Enforcement of Plastic Bag Ban
New York State’s ban on single-use plastic grocery bags was slated to start on Monday, March 1st, but a state court has just put a…