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News Release
Trump pocket rescission move helps eliminate needless spending
The White House announced today that President Trump has moved to rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding. The President is using what’s known as…
Blog
Washington just bought Intel—and sold capitalism
Back in 2010, I testified before Congress against reauthorizing the so-called America COMPETES Act. That legislation was the precursor to the much-ballyhooed CHIPS and…
Blog
DC Circuit Court shields proxy advisor duopoly
In an unfortunate move, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2020 Proxy Advisor Rule. The…
Search Posts
News Release
“Ten Thousand Commandments” report on federal regulatory burdens identifies problems, reforms
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today released its annual Ten Thousand Commandments report on the cost burden of federal regulations, revealing a cost exceeding $2 trillion,…
Products
Chapter 11: 2025 Unconstitutionality Index: 19 rules for every law 78
Article I of the Constitution notwithstanding, administrative agencies, not Congress, do most of America’s lawmaking. Congress enacts weighty legislation but delegates the details to agencies.
Products
Chapter 4: Regulatory dark matter
Although executive actions are typically supposed to deal with the internal operations of the federal government, they increasingly can have binding effect and influence private…
Products
Chapter 3: Numbers of rules and page counts in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its page counts are often cited as a…
Products
Chapter 2: Why we need a regulatory budget
The federal government publicly discloses its fiscal costs. It does not disclose most of its regulatory costs. Federal spending programs are funded either by taxes…
Products
Chapter 7:Unified Agenda of regulatory actions
Along with the Report to Congress, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, another vehicle for regulatory disclosure is the spring and fall editions of…
Products
Chapter 12: An agenda for rightsizing Washington
Rule counts regularly topped 4,000 in the 1990s. That is the wrong comparison for Biden-era lower rule counts. Those fewer rules have higher costs, are…
Products
Chapter 5: Well over 20,000 agency public notices annually
Presidents issue a few dozen memoranda and other proclamations each year. Departments and agencies issue thousands. These include guidance documents, notices, memoranda, letters, bulletins, action…
Products
Chapter 6: A note on rule reviews at OMB
OMB’s Biden-era shift to regulatory advocacy, particularly since the Circular A-4 rewrite, diminishes what can be gleaned from EO 12866 rule reviews. Nonetheless, like pages…
Products
Chapter 1: Biden’s whole-of-government push
Let’s be clear, Kamala and I came into office determined to transform how the economy works—change the way it literally functions. —Joe Biden, September 23,…
Products
Chapter 8: Federal regulations affecting small business
The aforementioned National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) report found that average annual per-employee regulatory costs to firms vary by firm size. The smaller the firm,…
Products
Chapter 10: GAO database on rules and major rules
The federal government’s regulatory reports and databases serve different purposes. The Federal Register presents all proposed and final rules, along with numerous presidential documents and…
Products
Chapter 9: Federal rules affecting state and local governments
State and local officials’ concerns over federal mandates’ overriding their own priorities resulted in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) of 1995. It requires Congressional…
Blog
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…
Letters
CEI joins Coalition for Innovative Laboratory Test, FDA’s laboratory developed tests rule
Re: Court vacating FDA’s final rule on LDT regulation, Executive Order 14219, Executive Order “Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers”, & FDA Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute documentary selected for Anthem Libertarian Film Festival, begins streaming on SalemNow May 7
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is proud to announce the release of a special documentary project, Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia…
News Release
President Trump announces Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation within federal agencies: CEI analysis
On Wednesday, President Trump announced several Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation in federal agencies through sunsetting and repealing outdated or unnecessary rules. The Orders…
News Release
Trump’s tariffs on China mean more economic pain on the way for consumers: CEI analysis
President Trump announced on Monday a 50 percent retaliatory tariff against China’s 34 percent retaliatory tariff. CEI senior economist Ryan Young says enough is enough.
News Release
March adds 228,000 jobs ahead of a rocky economic road: CEI analysis
The job numbers report for March show 228,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While…
News Release
Congress passes resolution repealing Biden energy rule against freezers, walk-in coolers: CEI statement
Congress successfully passed a resolution repealing a Biden Energy Department rule that would have imposed needless restrictions on walk-in coolers and freezers. CEI energy policy…
Marketplace
Our post-tariff takeaways
MarketPlace cited CEI’s expert on tariffs Listen to more on MarketPlace…
Fox Business
What is the time frame for Trump’s tariffs leading to price increases?
Fox Business cited CEI’s expert on a timeline for price increases post-tariffs Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told FOX Business that…
News Release
New tariffs could spell major trouble for global economy: CEI analysis
President Trump has dubbed today “Liberation Day” by announcing a new round of tariffs on various goods entering the US. CEI senior economist Ryan…
WSJ Opinion
The Kid Rock-Kamala Coalition
WSJ Opinion cited CEI’s expert on the U.S. economy Now the White House is attacking secondary markets? Perhaps soon someone will have to explain…
Forbes
Trump’s Deregulation Gains Muscle—But Is He Skipping Leg Day?
The Trump 2.0 era has been marked by some extraordinary executive orders aimed at deregulation. These include E.O.14,192’s one-in, ten-out initiative; E.O. 14219’s installation of DOGE…
Letters
CEI joins Market Institute on Nippon Steel investment.
Dear Secretary Yellen: We represent a broad coalition of free-market, conservative, and individual liberty organizations united in our support of a market free of government…
Letters
CEI joins Center of Freedom and Prosperity against trade tariffs
Dear President Donald J. Trump, On behalf of the undersigned conservative, free market, and taxpayer advocacy organizations, we write to commend you on your pro-growth…
Letters
CEI joins Institute for the American Worker in coalition letter about Senator Josh Hawley’s proposal framework for the PRO Act.
Dear Members of the United States Senate, We write to express our deep concern about Senator Josh Hawley’s proposed labor framework. The framework has no…
Blog
SEC restores corporate control over ESG proposals
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has wasted no time in reforming controversial regulations under the Trump administration. Beyond targeting formal rules, GOP commissioners have…
City Journal
Home Appliance Regulations Are Out of Control
President Trump hates federal home appliance regulations as much as President Biden loved them. And now Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has taken the first…
National Review
Trump Transition at FTC Is No Reagan Revolution
Don’t call it a “comeback.” Those hoping for a Reagan-era-like return to economic sanity or regulatory humility in antitrust at the Federal Trade Commission…
Blog
Shutdowns are fake, but government growth is very real
With a government funding deadline looming on March 14, the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) to freeze non-defense spending at Fiscal Year 2024…
News Release
February inflation numbers not yet reflective of Trump’s tariffs: CEI analysis
Inflation rose 0.2 percent across all sectors in February, down from 0.5 percent in January. CEI senior economist Ryan Young says Trump’s tariffs did…
The New York Times
Trump Doubles Metal Tariffs as He Presses Canada to Become Part of U.S.
The New York Times cited CEI’s experts on tariffs “Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that putting tariffs on foreign…
Op-Eds
Will Congress Ever Take The Libertarian Win And Embrace Automatic Shutdown?
Congress is at it again. With the March 14, 2025, funding deadline looming, the House is debating a continuing resolution (CR) that would…
News Release
Trump’s plan to increase steel, aluminum tariffs on Canada not a winning move: CEI analysis
President Trump declared today he will increase planned steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada in a tit for tat response to Canada’s recent imposition…
Master Resource
Modernize EPA! (CEI guidebook is out)
Master Resource cited CEI’s experts on new study in modernizing the EPA “Kudos to CEI for its unwavering dedication to principled scholarship in its long,…
The Economic Standard
The CFPB drops its misguided case against Zelle
Seemingly as part of the general order to stop work by acting director Russ Vought, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has …
News Release
TSA to end collective bargaining due for its workers, citing abuse of union “official time”: CEI comment
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced it is ending collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers, explaining that…
News Release
Economy adds fewer jobs than expected in February 2025, with trade tariff uncertainty looming large
Experts expected the U.S. economy to add 160,000 jobs in the month of February, but it fell a bit short at 151,000. As President Trump’s…
Forbes
Like DOGE, Virginia Is Leading The Way On Government Efficiency
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is one of the most high-profile experiments in Trump’s second administration. With billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at the helm,…
The Daily Economy
DOGE Gets Serious in Its War on the Administrative State
I have argued for over a decade that America has a fourth, largely unaccountable branch of government in the administrative state. My 2012 book, Stealing…
Blog
My State of the Union message: Restore separation of powers
President Trump is giving a speech on March 4 to a joint session of Congress. In a syndicated column for Inside Sources, I argue…
Blog
Don’t let a government shutdown stop mergers
With a March 14 deadline looming, the US is heading towards another government shutdown. Congressional Democrats seem willing to let funding lapse unless they…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Alabama does DOGE with Stephanie Smith
In this week’s episode we discuss poverty in Illinois, J.D. Vance on AI in Paris, the future of the Jones Act and…
DC Journal
Point: Pare Back Presidential Power
President Trump is poised to address a joint session of Congress on March 4, the first-year equivalent of the annual State of the Union address.
Forbes
Signs Of A Renewed Regulatory Reform Push From DOGE
Over the last half year, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has undergone an unexpected journey. What began as an idea envisioned by Elon Musk—and…
Letters
CEI joins the Black Rock Group to support Make America Competitive Again.
Dear Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Thune, On behalf of the Competitiveness Coalition, we write today to urge you and your colleagues to support President…
