Out of Control: 47 New Regulations for Every New Law

According to a new Competitive Enterprise Institute study provided to Secrets, agency bureaucrats have finalized 47 times more new rules than laws passed in 2011, a runaway record over the past nine years.

CEI found that Congress passed just 81 new laws in 2011, but regulators OK'd 3,807 regulations. A year earlier, Congress approved 217 new laws compared to 3,573 rules, or 16 times more rules.

"It's quite eye-opening," said CEI's Wayne Crews. "Regulators issue vastly more rules than those elected to make laws. Calling it unaccountable rulemaking is an understatement. It's un-Democratic."