Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The big story of the week was the new proposed payday lending regulation, which ate up 356 pages of Friday’s 625-page Federal Register.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Freedom Rising
This week’s RealClear Radio Hour was recorded in Las Vegas at FreedomFest 2016, the trade show for liberty.
Blog
GOP Platform Calls for Fewer Regulations and More Energy Production
The Republican National Convention on 18th July officially adopted their 2016 party platform. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) chaired the platform committee; and the co-chairs were…
Blog
Does Global Warming Policy Increase Summer Swelter?
Supporters of EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) claim the program “mitigates” anthropogenic global warming by substituting biofuels for petroleum products in the nation’s motor fuel…
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Net Neutrality
Under the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA), before an agency may issue a new rule, it must usually publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in…
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Secret Rules
Since Obama took office, the EPA’s grossest procedural violation was so outrageous that the agency voluntarily reversed course after it came to light. In the…
Blog
Happy “No Food Is Junk Food” Day 2016!
I can’t stand candy corn. Yes, I’m that person in the office at Halloween.
Blog
Washington Post “Fact Checker” Column Still in Denial over Regulatory Costs
The Washington Post “Fact Checker” column is running its critiques of the Republican convention, and in the process is trying again to rebuff a $15,000…
Blog
Labor Regulators Set Sights on Microsoft
It has almost been one year since the National Labor Relations Board dramatically changed the definition of “joint employer” in Browning-Ferris.
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Regulation by Guidance
Federal agencies are to publish a notice of rulemaking and allow the public time to comment on the rule before it becomes final, or legally…
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Good Cause, Bad Faith
For the past seven decades, most federal agency actions must comport with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The APA lays out the basic processes required…
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: The Series
Inspired by our friends at RegBlog, Open Market is publishing a new blog series this week on pressing issues in administrative law and regulatory policy.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: U.S. Constitutionalist and Soviet Dissident
In this episode of RealClear Radio Hour, we contrast constitutionalism and socialism.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New regulations from the past week cover everything from Namibian meat to California raisins.
Blog
The Next President Should Learn from Reagan’s Legacy on Government Reform
My colleague Wayne Crews has a fascinating policy brief out this week, “Channeling Reagan by Executive Order: How the Next President Can Begin Rolling Back…
Blog
House Science Chairman Lamar Smith Subpoenas NY AG Schneiderman, Mass. AG Healey, and Eight Organizations
House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) on 13th July made good on his threat to subpoena state attorneys general and private organizations that appear to…
Blog
Collective Bargaining Increases Inequality
I recently pointed out that minimum wage regulations increase inequality. That’s not what the “Fight-for-15” activists intend, but it is the result they would achieve.
Blog
Politics and Economics Collide with Pokémon Go
It seems strange to think it’s been barely a week since Pokémon Go became the dominant pop culture phenomenon of the summer. Publications better known…
Blog
“Web of Denial” Basher Sen. Schatz Ignores Science on Carbon Dioxide
The core premise of Senate Democrats’ fulminations this week against the “web of climate denial” is that there is no real debate about how dangerous…
Blog
Letter to Congress: Experts Urged House to Reject Mandatory GMO Labeling Bill
In advance of a House vote on July 14 concerning mandatory GMO labeling, myself and other policy experts on biotechnology, consumer, and agricultural policy sent…
Blog
Appropriations Committee Moves to Defund Harmful Labor Regulations
Yesterday, the full House Appropriations Committee held a markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, which defunds numerous harmful regulations implemented by…
Blog
Understanding the Climate Skeptic Witch Hunt in Congress
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO for short, is a legal method used by the government to go after mob cartels and…
Blog
International Tribunal Gets Its First Big Test
The news that the Permanent Court of Arbitration acting in conjunction with the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) have ruled against…
Blog
Senator “Which Way” Whitehouse Can’t Decide Whether #ExxonKnows
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) on Monday introduced a “Web of Denial” concurrent resolution, which “condemns groups who have misled the…
Blog
Kim Strassel Offers Prescient Look at Political ‘Intimidation Game’
Prescience is an odd quality to attribute to a book-length treatment of recent history. Nonetheless, The Intimidation Game by Kimberly Strassel adheres closely to Antonio’s…
Blog
CEI Supports Defunding Obama’s Joint Employer Standard in House Appropriations Bill
This week, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee will markup the Fiscal Year 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. CEI commends the…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
The Climate Change Debate and the Alarmists’ Addiction to Tobacco Analogies
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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.
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
Minimum Wage Increases Inequality, Decreases Labor Force Participation
The minimum wage actually increases inequality. It helps some workers, but only at others’ expense.
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…