There are two main areas in which Congress can enact meaningful reform. The first is to rein in regulatory guidance documents, which we refer to as “regulatory dark matter,” whereby agencies regulate through Federal Register notices, guidance documents, and other means outside standard rulemaking procedure. The second is to enact a series of reforms to increase agency transparency and accountability of all regulation and guidance. These include annual regulatory report cards for rulemaking agencies and regulatory cost estimates from the Office of Management and Budget for more than just a small subset of rules.
In 2019, President Trump signed two executive orders aimed at stopping the practice of agencies using guidance documents to effectively implement policy without going through the legally required notice and comment process.
Featured Posts
![CEI study: Congress should establish limits on regulatory power to ensure agencies are not answering major policy questions](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1154438278-578x324-c-default.jpg)
News Release
CEI study: Congress should establish limits on regulatory power to ensure agencies are not answering major policy questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. According to a new report from…
![Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1154438278-578x324-c-default.jpg)
Study
Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. During the Biden administration, this has included…
![Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/regulatory-dark-matter-papers-1-578x324-c-default.png)
Blog
Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a December 2023 report titled “Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal…
Search Posts
Forbes
The Midterm Election Results Should Inspire A New Trump Executive Order On Federal Regulations
As part of its economic reform agenda, the Trump administration emphasized cutting red tape. It reaffirmed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cost-benefit review of significant agency rules…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Regulatory Reform?
A divided Congress probably means the status quo will reign on regulation. This is a mixed bag from a free-market perspective. President Trump made…
Cayman Financial Review
The Administrative State
King George III, decried Thomas Jefferson in America’s Declaration of Independence, “has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to…
The Patriot Post
Airline Deregulation At 40: Flying The Friendly Skies
The Patriot Post cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on airline deregulation. Despite those fears about safety and loss of service to some…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Regulators were relatively quiet during the week before the midterm election, though CEI wasn’t, with our colleague Ted Frank arguing a case before the Supreme…
Blog
RegData Tracks Extent of Federal and State Regulation
This week our old friend Chad Reese of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University hosts a new podcast about Mercatus’ RegData…
Staff & Scholars
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Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
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Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
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Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
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Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
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Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment