Re-Prioritizing Regulatory Reform

white-house

The 2019 edition of Wayne Crews’ Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State is out now. It contains basic data on the regulatory state that is harder to find than it should be: how many regulations agencies issue, how much they cost, and what is coming up next. Wayne also has several reform ideas, from a regulatory budget akin to the government’s sending budget, to improved disclosure and cost accounting standards, to more congressional involvement in the rulemaking process.

If you prefer a shorter version, Wayne and I have a piece at National Review sharing the main findings and making the case for re-prioritizing regulatory reform:

President Trump, who made regulatory reform a priority early in his term, claims to have reduced federal regulatory burdens by $23 billion in fiscal year 2018. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he has hinted at declaring premature victory and given indications of abandoning the issue altogether.

Congress should also be on board:

Congress has shown interest in executive-branch transparency in matters concerning Trump himself. It should extend that interest to regulatory agencies over which President Trump wields power.

Read the whole piece here. The new 2019 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is here, and a summarizing press release is here.