‘No Authoritative List’: Federal Gov’t Lacks Precise Number on Just How Many Bureaucracies Exist

Wayne Crews discusses the murky number of federal agencies with The Blaze. 

Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, compiles the CEI’s annual 10,000 Commandments report on federal regulations. He cited six official counts of the number of federal agencies.

“I began looking for how many dark matter rules are pushed through memoranda and press releases – outside the regular congressional lawmaking and even adoption of regulations,” Crews told TheBlaze. “Then I realized it was difficult to determine how many rules were coming out if you couldn’t be sure how many agencies exist.”

…

One agency can hardly point to one government source as being more correct than other government sources with different numbers, Crews said.

“Why is it more authoritative than other lists?” Crews asked referring to USA.gov number cited by the OPM. “When there is such a sprawling federal government, it becomes hard to say what is authoritative.”

…

“Agencies are issuing guidance, but it can be difficult for businesses to know who in the world they are regulated by,” Crews said. “People wonder why the jobs machine hasn’t started up yet. It’s because of uncertainty.”