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Regulators right to approve Capital One/Discover merger
On Friday, federal financial regulators made the right decision in approving the merger of Capital One and Discover. In their joint approvals of the merger,…
Forbes
Trump Reforms Die Without An Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act
Amid frustrations with interventionist elements of the Trump agenda—such as tariffs and revived antitrust zeal—many have nevertheless been encouraged by the renewed…
Citation
Happy Hour May No Longer Be So Happy
The American Spectator cited CEI’s expert tariffs Economists aren’t surprised that the alcohol industry is talking about price hikes. “Tariffs are a tax,” said…
Search Posts
Legal Brief
In the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
MOTION OF COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTEFOR LEAVE TO FILE AN AMICUS CURIAE BRIEFIN Opposition to Defendants-Appellants’Emergency Motion For Stay Pending Appeal CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED…
Blog
Time to downsize presidential power
Over at InsideSources, I have a syndicated column arguing that the presidency has grown too powerful. The best parting gift President Biden could give…
The American Spectator
Regulations’ Enormous Costs and DOGE’s Enormous Upside
The American Spectator cited CEI’s Ten Thousand Commandments Wayne Crews, author of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s “Ten Thousand Commandments” study, produced a price tag that…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Biden Should Reduce Presidential Power
The American experiment can be summed up in one big idea: don’t put too much power in one place. That is why the federal government…
News Release
Fed cuts interest rates again, fewer cuts planned next year: CEI analysis
Today, the Federal Reserve announced that interest rates will be cut by 25 basis points, with an additional note that there will be fewer…
Forbes
Republicans’ Next Reconciliation Bill Should Include These Reforms
Republicans are already planning at least one, and possibly two, major budget reconciliation packages in the next Congress. Reconciliation bills allow lawmakers…
News Release
Minnesota’s cautionary environmental permitting history: CEI report
Lawmakers in Minnesota, including former Gov. Mark Dayton, have made environmental permitting reforms to make the system efficient and effective. These reforms, noted in a…
Study
Feeling Minnesota
Minnesota’s efforts to streamline environmental permitting under former Gov. Mark Dayton (D) initially saw some success, with reforms aimed at reducing approval times for priority…
The Federalist Society
Court Holds the Corporate Transparency Act Is Unconstitutional: A Victory for Limited Government and the Right to Privacy
Earlier this month, a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a law that requires new…
Comment
Improving Accreditation Process and Strengthening Legal Education
RE: Improving Accreditation Process and Strengthening Legal Education Requirements for Accredited Agents and Attorneys, 89 Fed. Reg. 82546 (Oct. 11, 2024), Docket VA-2024-OTHER-0022-0001 (to be…
Marketplace
Court rules Nasdaq diversity initiative illegal
“The SEC has recently been trying to use its powers to force companies to provide more information than companies normally provide to investors,” said Devin…
Forbes
White House Releases Fall 2024 Unified Agenda Of Federal Regulatory And Deregulatory Actions
Federal departments and agencies have highlighted their rulemaking priorities in the (usually) twice yearly Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions since the early 1980s. This…
Letters
CEI Coalition Letter on Permitting Reform in the 119th Congress
Dear Members of Congress: The undersigned organizations strongly believe that our nation needs across-the-board federal permitting reform. This requires amending the National Environmental Policy Act…
Foodfix
How to reform infant formula policy, according to Project 2025
FoodFix quoted CEI’s CEO & experts on formula policy according to project 2025 The Project 2025 vision: Until this crisis hit, there wasn’t much debate about…
The National News Desk
Sticky inflation, Trump bring obstacles to Fed’s path to lowering rates
“While the Fed would like to cut interest rates, if they really want to signal seriousness about inflation and they want to build up that…
News Release
Report: FTC used insufficient analysis in its investigation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report delves into major problems with a Federal Trade Commission report critical of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). PBMs are specialized…
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity
The Politics of Freedom & Progress in 2028 at Freedom & Progress 2024
CEI’s Kent Lassman speaks on The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity discussing the politics of freedom & progress panel.
Letters
The U.S. International Trade Commission nominations
Dear Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Crapo: We the undersigned organizations write to urge you to expeditiously process the following bipartisan slate of qualified nominees…
Blog
Can Trump’s DOGE team outmaneuver regulatory dark matter?
As Donald Trump prepares for a second term, his administration inherits a far more expansive regulatory state than it did in 2017. As explored today…
Fox News
‘Gov’t knows best’: Biden admin breaks Obama record for filling Federal Register with most regulations
Fox News quoted CEI’s expert on Federal Register record “Federal Register page counts are a highly imperfect gauge of regulatory burden. Biden’s milestone,…
Washington Examiner
Trump will need to hire new federal workers for trade war, former Cabinet member says
The Washington Examiner CEI’s expert on how Trump’s trade policy might be at odds with the DOGE mission. Ryan Young, senior economist at the libertarian Competitive…
Des Moines Register
Elon Musk’s DOGE can learn from Iowa’s bold government overhaul | Opinion
Iowa has started some regulatory reforms that set a good precedent for President-elect Donald Trump’s newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to be headed by…
City Journal
Unions’ Choice
At first glance, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of one-term congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as Labor secretary is mystifying. The former congresswoman seemingly …
News Release
Economy adds 227,000 jobs in November, suggesting a steady labor market: CEI analysis
Today’s labor report for November suggests a steady job market, with 227,000 jobs being added to the economy last month. Considering the report, the…
The Daily Economy
The Debanking Craze Reveals Everything Wrong with the Administrative State
After an appearance by financier Marc Andreessen on the Joe Rogan Podcast, Elon Musk’s X exploded with indignation that tech entrepreneurs were being debanked owing to…
News Release
North Carolina’s deregulatory approach to environmental permitting reform
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report highlights North Carolina’s commitment to significantly reforming its environmental permitting system. The reforms, which focused on accelerating project approvals…
News Release
Report: SEC climate disclosure rule complicated by EU, California
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report explains the problem businesses face complying with complicated, disparate climate disclosure rules imposed by multiple governments – the federal…
News Release
Biden Labor Department withdraws controversial apprenticeship rule opposed by CEI
On November 27, the Biden administration withdrew the Department of Labor’s proposed rule imposing costly, burdensome requirements on everyone involved in federal apprenticeship programs.
News Release
Trump nominee for SEC will refocus agency on core mission
President-elect Trump has nominated prior SEC commissioner Paul Atkins as chair of the agency, a move that CEI Director of Finance Policy John Berlau believes…
Washington Examiner
Biden did it: Most regulation-filled Federal Register ever at 96,088 pages
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on the final number of regulation pages in the Federal Register for Biden’s term Clyde Wayne Crews, the…
Reason
Abolish the Securities and Exchange Commission
Reason cites CEI’s expert on the magnitude of SEC compliance costs Besides, the costs of SEC compliance are staggering. Looking at the climate disclosure rule…
Comment
Student Debt Relief Comment
Re: Student Debt Relief Based on Hardship for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the Federal Perkins…
E&E News
Trump win puts endangerment finding in the crosshairs
E&E News cited CEI’s expert on EPA regulations Daren Bakst, a senior fellow and director of the institute’s Center for Energy & Environment, said he…
E&E News
Chris Wright and Sean Duffy hold the keys to Trump’s EV plans. How far will they go?
E&E News quoted CEI’s expert on federal EV support Daren Bakst, an energy and environmental analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, outlined one possible approach…
Law and Liberty
Milton Friedman’s Revenge
It’s rapidly becoming the received wisdom that an important reason President Trump won the 2024 election was because inflation matters. Too many hard-working…
Wall Street Journal
A Thumb on the Scale for Wegovy
The Biden administration announced one more bit of executive overreach on its way out the door. On Nov. 26, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid…
City Journal
Defying Administrative Tyranny
Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze (HarperCollins, 304 pp., $25.60) It’s daunting…
Blog
Republicans shouldn’t do anything lame in the lame duck
Next year is looking good for Republicans at the federal level. Control of the House, Senate, and the White House is a recipe for legislative…
News Release
Trump promises day-one tariffs to the detriment of consumers
President-elect Trump says he will sign an executive order on his first day in office imposing new tariffs on goods from China, Canada, and Mexico.
National Review
Telehealth Is Less Promising Than It First Seemed
A key issue facing Congress in its postelection, “lame duck” session is whether to extend regulatory flexibilities expiring at year end that make telehealth services more…
WSJ Opinion
Recipe for a Regulatory Spring Cleaning
Despite bold promises from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, skeptics doubt that the Department of Government Efficiency can deliver sweeping changes. The scope of federal regulation makes…
CNN
Trump’s Labor secretary pick is surprisingly pro-union. It doesn’t mean his administration will be
CNN’s Chris Isidore relays Sean Higgins’s misgivings about the Trump Labor Dept. nominee “While it is hard to predict what (Chavez-DeRemer) would do as a…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Commentary: Automation could be a problem in retail theft
Headed into the holiday season, the retail industry is wrangling with a surge in shoplifting and possible solutions to prevent theft. The upsurge may be an…
Daily Caller
Trump Could Make Biden’s EV Mandates Obsolete, Revamp Auto Industry With One Move
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s expert on EPA under the Clean Air Act “The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could make a determination that…
Study
Mardi Gras for Permits
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s (LDEQ) Expedited Permit Program, established in 2006, represents an innovative approach to speeding up environmental permit approvals. This report…
Blog
Swamp things: Why DOGE moving Beltway agencies to states isn’t deregulation
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), expected to be established by president-elect Trump and led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to slash regulations,…
Blog
Tariffs are lousy revenue generators
President-elect Donald Trump has proposed cutting income taxes and raising tariffs to replace some of the revenue. Economists of all political stripes have been…
The Daily Economy
Why Fewer Are Trying to Climb the Corporate Ladder
Someone once told me that my career fitted the dictionary definition of the word – a headlong rush, usually downhill. For most people, however, the…
E&E News
EPA in Elon Musk’s crosshairs
E&E News cited CEI’s expert on the EPA’s future under DOGE Wayne Crews, a fellow of regulatory studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Debt and taxes with Jack Salmon
In this week’s episode we cover the death of ESG investing, next moves on regulatory reform, Wall Street enthusiasm for a…
Washington Examiner
Biden’s swamp record: $1.8 trillion in regulations, 800x Trump
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s experts on tracking regulation Besides breaking the cost burden on America with his regulations, Biden is on a path…
Blog
New CEI video: The case for big and small business in America
Some questions don’t have a correct answer. For example: What is the right size for a business? A new CEI video and website…
The Hill
Federal Court takes aim at White House’s environment authority
The Hill cited CEI’s expert on the White House’s environment authority While some expressed concern that the ruling could cause confusion, Devin Watkins, an attorney…
News Release
Court ruling against regulator power in environmental assessments wins praise from CEI
Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on an important case concerning the authority of federal regulators to prescribe the content of environmental impact…
NPR
With Trump coming into power, the NIH is in the crosshairs
NPR cited CEI’s expert on changes in NIH “I do think you probably will see changes in NIH, as well as other public health agencies…
Business Insider
The future of betting markets
Business Insider cited CEI’s expert on the future of election betting markets Prediction markets are “going to attract people who want to influencepublic perception,” Broughel…
Washington Examiner
Berlin Wall anniversary offers lessons for today
The Berlin Wall toppled 35 years ago. First, the world looked on with awe, and then the disbelief gave way to jubilation. From…
Bloomberg Tax
Trump’s Push to Deregulate Faces Challenges in Post-Chevron Era
Bloomberg Tax cited CEI’s CEO on Deregulation challenges post-chevron era Kent Lassman, president and CEO of Competitive Enterprise Institute, which favors deregulation, said he expects…
Capitol Matters
Now, About Deregulation . . .
Capitol Matters cited CEI’s expert on regulatory disciplines Wayne Crews, writing in Forbes in September:…
Blog
Voters okay higher minimum wages, balk at more radical ideas
The ironic thing about Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric is that it overlaps to a degree with old-school Democratic populism. This can be…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado
Summary of the argument This case is not about what constitutes sound energy, infrastructure, environmental, or social policy. The question presented has nothing…
Forbes
Next SEC Must Restore Capital Formation Mission
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rightly garnered criticism from both political parties over the last few years for its…
Washington Examiner
Biden’s best efforts could not keep unions from declining or defecting to GOP
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on Biden’s efforts on unionization Sean Higgins, a labor researcher at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, attributed the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Understanding the national debt with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover whether Americans feel better off than they were four years ago, why we have more billion-dollar…
News Release
October adds 12,000 jobs to economy, far fewer than usual: CEI analysis
According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report, only 12,000 jobs were added to the economy in October, largely due to job losses…
City Journal
Thumb on the Scale
Americans’ trust in the scientific establishment took another hit last week with the revelation that a prominent advocate of adolescent transgender treatments had …
Washington Examiner
Biden poised to crash through regulations records
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on Biden’s record number of regulations “We could potentially see ourselves crossing the threshold of a 100,000 page Federal…
Forbes
Darklore Depository 2024: A Halloween Inventory Of Federal Agency Guidance Documents
The U.S. Code archives federal laws. The 186,000-page Code of Federal Regulations is where rules from the daily Federal Register are embalmed. As spirits would have it,…
Citation
2024 minimum wage ballot measures: What to know
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert who commented on minimum wage mandates. But critics think that wages shouldn’t be completely set by the government…
Study
Permanently in Recovery
Washington state has made some significant strides in reforming its environmental permitting processes through its Permit Timelinesss initiative. The Governor’s Office for Regulatory Innovation and…
Inman
Redlining settlement wouldn’t resolve 1st Amendment questions
Inman cited CEI’s experts on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau In an April 2023 Wall Street Journal op-ed, CEI fellows John Berlau and Stone…
Testimony
A Menu of Options for Oklahoma Regulatory Reform
Testimony before the Oklahoma interim study committee on administrative rules reform Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I apologize for not…
Forbes
Exposing Loopholes: How Federal Regulatory Oversight Laws Are Being Ignored
Passing new laws to reform and streamline the administrative state is important, and reformers consistently call for such oversight. But just as critical is ensuring that…
Washington Examiner
Black voters warned that Harris vote-‘buying’ plan makes them dependent on government
CEI’s expert was cited by the Washington Examiner on ‘buying votes’ Deregulation expert Clyde Wayne Crews with the Competitive Enterprise Institute said her…
The Dispatch
Regulatory Policy Experts: Both Harris and Trump Threaten Constraints on Innovation
CEI expert contributed to this The Dispatch piece The outlook for America’s tech industry is no more certain under another Trump administration. Vice presidential nominee…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Freedom to farm with Bill Wirtz
In this week’s episode we cover a new ranking of state governors, reforms to emergency powers, new research on working from…
Forbes
Emergency Powers Can Reduce Rather Than Expand Government
With back-to-back natural weather disasters dominating headlines, the use of federal emergency powers has become a focal point. It’s important to recognize that these powers,…
The Epoch Times
Supreme Court Overturns ‘Chevron Doctrine,’ Curtailing Federal Government Power
The Epoch Times cited CEI’s expert on Chevron doctrine The APA, passed in 1946 after the New Deal era, was critical to one of the…
News Release
Union Members Right to Know Act would protect union-worker rights and promote transparency
Three and a half decades after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Communications Workers of America v. Beck, the rights afforded by that decision are understood…
DC Journal
Point: The Supreme Court Is Empowering Voters
The Supreme Court’s recent term signaled a monumental shift toward liberty as it rolled back the unchecked power of federal agencies and reaffirmed the constitutional…
Daily Caller
‘Sleeping Giant’: US Could Be Inches Away From Another Economic Crisis As Massive Port Strike Looms
Daily Caller cited CEI’s expert on the border economy “The Biden administration has a record of stepping in and forcing a deal if they…
Rumble
Rumble- Mike Ferguson in the Morning 10-02-24
NewsTalksSTL cited CEI’s expert on deregulation…
Washington Examiner
Trump and GOP urged to follow model deregulator, Jimmy Carter
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s experts on deregulatory legacy Read more at the Washington Examiner…
The Daily Caller
Kamala’s New Plan For The Economy Is Basically A Bidenomics Redux
Daily Caller cited CEI’s senior economist on Bidenomics Redux Harris isn’t going to stray very far from current Biden policies,” Ryan Young, a senior economist…
Washington Examiner
What a looming disastrous dock strike would mean for the nation
Read more at the Washington Examiner…
The New York Times
Inside Harris’s Big Economic Pitch
The New York Times quoted CEI’s expert on Harris’s Economic Pitch While a similar argument didn’t sway regulators in JetBlue’s attempted acquisition of Spirit, financial industry…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Pedestrians’ heads and avocado maturity
CEI celebrated its 40th anniversary at its annual Julian Simon Memorial Award Dinner. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Agencies issued new regulations…
Reason
‘Yeah, I’m a “Perv” Too!’
Scenes from Washington, D.C.: I trekked into the nation’s capital yesterday to attend the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual dinner, where Magatte Wade was honored with the think…
American Institute For Economic Research
The Supreme Court Reshuffles the Regulatory Deck
We sometimes forget that the Constitution of the United States is intended both to direct the nation’s governance and to advance the nation’s economy. But…
Blog
Magatte Wade to accept Julian L. Simon Memorial Award and share her story at the CEI dinner
According to demographers, about one-quarter of the world’s population is expected to be African at the middle of this century. Many are currently quite poor. …
The American Thinker
Labor unions are turning into roach motels for generations of workers
The American Thinker quoted CEI’s expert on unionized workers Sean Higgins, a former colleague at Investor’s Business Daily, now at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Economic mobility in the 50 states with Gonzalo Schwarz
In this week’s episode we cover poll results on corporate social responsibility, the plight of California landlords, hard times for cable…
National Review
‘Free Enterprise Is My Birthright as an African’
National Review quoted CEI’s award winner Today Wade is being awarded the Julian L. Simon Memorial Award from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free-market…
Nonprofit Quarterly
Project 2025: What Does It Mean for Racial and Economic Justice?
Nonprofit Quarterly cited CEI’s CEO about Project 2025 The document has been widely described as a “blueprint” for a possible incoming Donald…
Blog
Turning point on interest rates
The Federal Reserve went for the big cut at its interest rate meeting this week. There was uncertainty on whether the federal funds rate…
News Release
Updated REINS Act introduced in Senate and House
Today, Senator Rand Paul (R–KY) and Representative Kat Cammack (R, FL-03) introduced an updated version of the REINS (Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny)…
Blog
DOJ’s flawed case against AI’s incredible rent machine
In Tom Smith and The Incredible Bread Machine, the famous political poem about an inventor at first hailed for his machine that slashes the…
GWU Regulatory Studies Center
Political Review of Agency Adjudication and Recommendations for Reform
Formal agency adjudication reserves the final decision-making authority to the political leadership of the agency. Many organizations and watchdogs have taken issue with how political…
Blog
Some thoughts on Constitution Day
As I drove into work today, it occurred to me: we so often take for granted the extraordinary power that the automobile gives us. Once…
The Federalist Society
Federal Court Recognizes Limits to Federal Power Over At-Home Distilling
What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision…
