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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…
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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.
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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…
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“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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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?…