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

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This week in ridiculous regulations: flax revenue and female test dummies
President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs. At this point it is uncertain how they would be implemented. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from butterfat testing to…

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Agenda for Congress: Regulation
CEI’s new Agenda for Congress is out now. Each chapter contains pro-market policy recommendations in areas where CEI has expertise. Here are four principles…

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This week in ridiculous regulations: Automatic brakes and horse protection amendments
Sixty-seven people died when a military helicopter and a passenger jet collided near Reagan Airport. President Trump issued an Executive Order to stop all federal…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress is out of session for the next two weeks, and the impeachment investigation will likely dominate headlines for some time to come. Meanwhile, the…
Inside Sources
Air Conditioning – Saving Lives but Getting No Love
Every summer brings heat waves, but recent summers have also brought waves of criticisms about air conditioning. We are told that it is unnecessary, unhealthy and…
Forbes
Will the Regulatory Right-to-Know Act Ever Be Enforced?
For the past two years there's been a big production made of the Trump Administration’s year-end Status Report on the “one-in, two-out” regulatory reduction program. These…
Forbes
What is the Cost of the Permanent Federal Regulatory Bureaucracy?
It is well known that businesses constantly seek favors from government. The phenomenon is called "rent-seeking" by economists, and it gets lots of attention. Elon Musk of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The House passed a continuing resolution to avoid a federal shutdown until November 21st. The Senate will likely follow suit this week. The 2019 Federal…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress returned from recess, the Democratic presidential candidates had a debate, and the 2019 federal deficit topped $1 trillion with a month left to go…
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Unknown Societal Costs of Imposing Regulation Based on Secret (or Creatively Leveraged) Data
From the food pyramid and dietary guidelines, to vaping policies, to the Progressive zeal for eugenics, humility-challenged administrative experts can be mistaken, can mislead, or…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Contrary to my earlier prediction, the number of new regulations this year did not pass 2,000 last week, ending the four-day week at 1,991. Meanwhile,…
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Trump Tariff Costs to Outweigh Benefits from Deregulation
Early in the Trump administration, a series of executive orders slowed the growth of new regulations and removed some existing rules. From the start of…
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Department of Energy Expands Consumer Choice in Light Bulbs
The Trump administration took a pro-consumer step today as the Department of Energy finalized a rule that will allow certain types of lower-cost light bulbs to…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The UK parliament will soon be suspended for a five-week period, something the U.S. Congress should consider emulating as often as possible. Over in the…
News Release
New CEI Video Urges Americans to Show Their Support for Faster Dishwashers
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today released a new video making the case for a new Department of Energy (DOE) regulation allowing faster dishwashers and…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A humorous diplomatic row over Greenland was not the only news of the week, with China tariffs, divisive rhetoric, and recession fears also putting in…
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Cataloging Regulatory Costs of Cronyism and Rent-Seeking in a Self-Interested Administrative State
Rent-seeking as a policy concern has been done to death: It’s been described over and over how regulation is often not about elevating the public…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week was the Federal Register’s busiest of the year, with its 3,075 pages almost tripling a normal week’s count. A new economically significant regulation…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Rumblings of a “Navarro recession” are growing louder, and the 2019 Federal Register will likely crack the 40,000-page mark early this week. Rulemaking agencies published…
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VIDEO: Where the Regulatory State Came From
Our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation have a funny and insightful explainer video on the historical development of the regulatory state (also known as…
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Limits of ‘Soft Law’ Approach to Tech Regulation
Can the regulation of new technology be voluntary and non-coercive? In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Mercatus Center law and technology analyst Jennifer Huddleston…
The Heartland Institute
Trump Deregulation Will Save $3,100 Per Household, CEA Reports
The Heartland Institute cites CEI’s 10kc report. “The Competitive Enterprise Institute puts the annual economic cost of federal regulations at $1.9 trillion,” Herrick…
FreedomWorks
Support the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 3972
FreedomWorks cites CEI on the cost of federal regulations. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, federal regulation cost nearly $1.9 trillion in 2017…
Inside Sources
Consumer Choice Is Not Elitist
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, thinks it’s fine that your new dishwasher takes more than 2 hours to complete a cycle — we think consumers…
Forbes
Will the Regulatory Right-to-Know Act Ever Be Enforced?
For the past two years there's been a big production made of the Trump Administration’s year-end Status Report on the “one-in, two-out” regulatory reduction program. These…
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Guidance Documents of the Week: Agriculture, Housing, Management
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In a pre-recess Parthian shot, the Senate passed a massive new spending bill that would increase federal spending by $320 billion over two years and…
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Is White House ‘Guidance on Compliance with the Congressional Review Act’ Restraining Agency Rulemaking?
At a time of trillion dollar runaway peacetime deficits, big-spenders can take smug comfort knowing that regulation is even less disciplined, especially where ostensibly sub-regulatory…
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Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Friends
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress has adjourned for its August recess, so the republic is safe for another month. Rulemaking agencies are still on the job, however, and published…
National Review
The Trump Economy
The National Review cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the 10kc report. As Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Reason
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Can’t Stay Awake During Meetings. Does That Mean It’s Time to Put His Whole Crony Capitalist Department to Rest?
Reason cites CEI’s report on the Economic Development Administration. “In the four decades since its creation, EDA has funded professional football practice facilities,…
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Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Product Safety Commission Revisited
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington, D.C.’s flash flood was followed up by a heat wave; this week could bring even worse during Congress’ final week in session before the…
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What Should the Government Do?
What Should the Government Do? In that question lies most disagreements about politics. What can governments do, and just because they can, should they? …
Newsmax
Volcker Rule Burdens Banks, Markets
Newsmax cites a recent coalition letter signed by CEI opposing the Volcker Rule. That legislative ban would seem to apply here, because as…
Politico, Morning Energy
Perry Calls Efficiency Moves ‘Common Sense’
POLITICO‘s Morning Energy cites CEI’s recent petition for increased efficiency in dishwashers. PERRY: EASING EFFICIENCY IS ‘COMMON SENSE’: DOE will publish in the Federal…
FreedomWorks
The Passenger Facility Charge Is a Market-Minded Way to Address Airport Infrastructure
FreedomWorks cites a coalition letter CEI joined advocating for eliminating the cap on PFC. This is why a group of organizations associated with…
Issues & Insights
How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything From Dishwashers To Gas Cans To Cars
Issues & Insights cites CEI’s recent petition for increased efficiency in dishwasher cycles. The DOE was responding to a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Product Safety Commission
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Marketplace
Labor Department Deregulation Expected to Pick Up Steam After Acosta
Marketplace cites Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on deregulation efforts from the Department of Labor. “He certainly took what I would say is an…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington, D.C. was hit by a flash flood, but agencies were still able to publish new regulations ranging from electric program procedures to Fort Ord…
Industrial Heating
Regulations – Reform and Removal
Industrial Heating cites CEI’s 10kc report. A Competitive Enterprise Institute survey found that the U.S. has $1.9 trillion in hidden taxes via federal…
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Guidance Documents of the Week: Social Security Administration and Treasury
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going through…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a four-day week for the federal government as the nation celebrated Independence Day. Meanwhile, agencies published new regulations ranging from the Paper and…
News Release
CEI Applauds DOE for Granting Its Petition to Speed Up Dishwashers
Responding to a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new rulemaking related to the problem of…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week
Each guidance document might be small, but when there are 13,000 of them per decade, mostly without outside review or accountability, they add up. This…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2019 Federal Register broke 30,000 pages last week, the Democratic presidential candidates had their first debates, and the U.S. and Chinese governments prepared for…
The Singapore Business Times
Regulating Facebook Protects Facebook
The Singapore Business Times cites a CEI report on the economy under the Obama Administration. More recently, a report by the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
‘Gundy’ Decision Could Signal Fundamental Reform of Administrative State
It is hard to describe how important the Supreme Court decision last week in Gundy v. United States is. In one sense, nothing changed—no case…
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Costs of Deadweight Effects of Federal Spending and of ‘Budget’ or ‘Transfer’ Rules
Theoretically, policymakers distinguish between economic and social regulation when examining and reporting on costs, effects, and employment.
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
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This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Wednesday, the day before the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th anniversary gala dinner, saw no new final regulations published in the Federal Register. This may be…
Staff & Scholars

Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation

Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance

Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment