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
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Dear Mr. President with Destry Edwards
In this week’s episode we cover the economic slowdown from tariffs, more accountability for independent agencies in the federal government, and…
Blog
The week in regulations: Steel tariff inclusions and policies for arresting journalists
The 2025 edition of Wayne Crews’s Ten Thousand Commandments is out now. The economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025…
Blog
Commencing deconstruction of the administrative state – Trump’s next 100 days
Federal regulation costs trillions of dollars each year. Call it the “costberg”—a vast, submerged amalgam of rules, guidance, and paperwork reshaping the economy without a…
Search Posts
Blog
Less than 1 Percent of Federal Regulations Get Cost-Benefit Analysis
The Obama administration likes to assert that all the rules and regulations pouring out of Washington have positive net-benefits. Billions of dollars in postulated net…
Washington Times
An easier way to rein in big government
The Washington Times mentions CEI's research on the costs of regulation. Over the past two years, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National…
Blog
The Mild, Mild West: Regulation in America
Over at the newly launched U.S. edition of the U.K.-based CapX wesbite, Wayne Crews and I have a short primer on U.S. regulation: America…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Wednesday’s Veterans’ Day holiday made it a short work week, but the Federal Register still passed the 70,000-page mark, with new regulations covering everything from Flugzeugbaus to…
Daily Caller
The Five most Damning Facts About Federal Regulation, In One Infographic
The Daily Caller features CEI’s infographic on federal regulations costs to the U.S. economy. CEI draws on their extensive report, Ten Thousand Commandments,…
Blog
Five Infuriating Facts about Federal Regulation
Each year, we produce Ten Thousand Commandments (10KC), an extensive report on the size, scope, and true cost of federal regulations. 10KC exposes the burdens put…
Watchdog.org
Even after stunning October jobs report, regulations are holding the economy back
Watchdog.org reviews October national jobs report and discuses the issue with Iain Murray who claims regulations may be slowing down economic growth. Iain…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New rules last week covered everything from relaxed grape handling to unclaimed funerary objects.
Blog
Don’t Spare the ROD: An Inventory of Resolutions of Disapproval under the Congressional Review Act
Before Thanksgiving Day, both chambers of Congress are likely to consider so-called “Resolutions of Disapproval” to attempt to reject major, cripplingly expensive Environmental Protection Agency regulations…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The pace of new rules has picked up recently, with 80 or more final regulations and more than 2,000 Federal Register pages for the second straight week.
Courier-Post
COMMENTARY: GOP debate’s missing question
The Courier Post published Michelle Minton's article which discusses how the GOP candidates should have approached answering the questions on fantasy football regulations during the…
Business News Daily
Title III Crowdfunding Ruling Changes Startup Fundraising for Good
Business News Daily asks John Berlau about the Securites and Exchange Commision's approval of new rules over the sales of securities through crowdfunding.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A normal week ended with a bang, with more than 450 pages of EPA regulations swelling Friday’s Federal Register to more than 800 pages (normal is around…
National Review
Regulatory Freeze Needs to Be Part of the Deal
Iain Murray discusses regulatory reform in the National Review: Representative Bill Flores’s Terms of Credit Act, which sought to pair the debt limit…
The Hill
What went unsaid at first Democrat debate
The Hill references Wayne Crews on the missing report to Congress on the costs and benefits of regulation. Inquiries to the SBA about…
Blog
Wayne Crews’s Essay Recognized as Part of 2015 Fisher Award
A collection of essays on the economic challenges facing the United States, as well as paths for recovery, were published by The Fraser Institute in…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a short work week for the federal government due to the Columbus Day holiday. But agencies still found the time to publish new…
Daily Iowegian
Rein in Washington’s overgrowth
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley references Wayne Crews' study on federal regulation's cost to Americans in the senator's news release. Federal regulations create a…
Boston Herald
As You Were Saying… Cut Regs to Get ‘Back to Future’
The Boston Harold cites the Competitive Enterprise's report that details the cost of federal regulations on American consumers and businesses. Yet while technology…
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Government bureaucracy is stifling economic growth
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel highlights CEI's study on the cost of federal regulations to American consumers and businesses. Just look at the…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The 2015 Federal Register broke the 60,000-page barrier in a big way, with new rules ranging from tuna boats to Nicaraguan archaeology. On to the…
Blog
What Will a Chaffetz Speakership Mean for Internet Freedom?
With House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) gaffe regarding the Benghazi investigation, the race to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appears much more open. Days later,…
Blog
Agency Overload: Meet the Federal Bureaucracy One-Page Word Cloud
There exist various counts of agencies in the federal bureaucracy, but no particular tally is regarded authoritative. The “Agency List” page maintained at FederalRegister.gov probably…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In another busy week, federal agencies issued new regulations for everything from tomato plants to airplane seats. On to the data: Last week, 76 new…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A slow week closed with a bang, with Friday’s Federal Register containing 15 proposed regulations, 25 final regulations, and 502 pages. Throughout the week, new regulations cover…
Blog
Education Department Power Grabs Criticized in Congress
Yesterday, The College Fix published an interesting story titled “Department of Education shredded for lawless overreach in Senate hearing.” It was about Congress getting annoyed with…
Blog
Jeb Bush Unveils Regulatory Reform Agenda
Traditionally, presidents named Bush have not been friends of limited government. George H.W. Bush raised taxes after his famous “read my lips” speech, and oversaw…
Blog
You Won’t Believe All the Ways Federal Agencies Issue Rules
Recently, I’d pointed out that we don’t really know how many federal agencies there are. That implies we don’t know how many rules and regulations…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Agencies last week proposed 51 new regulations, and finalized 77 other rules covering everything from aluminum to Peruvian citrus. On to the data: Last week,…
Blog
Rebuilding Liberty with Charles Murray
My colleague Fred Smith has a new review up, this time of Charles Murray’s most recent book By the People: Rebuilding Liberty without Permission. Murray argues that…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a short work week due to the Labor Day holiday, but agencies still found the time to finalize new regulations covering everything from…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
A new International Trade Commission regulation gives a useful reminder of the holy trinity of price regulation: if a company charges a higher price than its…
Blog
How to Fix Regulation without Representation
Before it departed for its August recess, the House passed the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. It would require Congress…
Wall Street Journal
The Off-Grid Administration
The Wall Street Journal discusses CEI's discovery of the "Richard Windsor" EPA emails: In August the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a motion in…
The Blaze
‘No Authoritative List’: Federal Gov’t Lacks Precise Number on Just How Many Bureaucracies Exist
Wayne Crews discusses the murky number of federal agencies with The Blaze. Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
As the 2015 Federal Register topped 50,000 pages, federal agencies issued new regulations for everything from bicycles to tuna. On to the data: Last week, 73 new…
Blog
Nobody Knows How Many Federal Agencies Exist
As bureaucracy sprawls, nobody can say with complete authority exactly how many federal agencies exist. The twice-annual Unified Agenda of Federal Deregulatory and Regulatory Actions, which…
Blog
CEI’s Battled Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Nearly 2,000 Federal Register pages contain regulations for everything from pay ratios to apricots. On to the data: Last week, 76 new final regulations were published in…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The number of this year’s new regulations zoomed past the 2,000 mark, though the pace is still slower than usual. This week’s new rules cover…
Blog
Regulations Endanger Democracy
The House has passed some key regulatory reform measures this year, including the REINS Act most recently (which stands for “Regulations from the Executive In Need…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
As it zoomed past the 45,000-page mark, the 2015 Federal Register saw new regulations covering everything from space particles to raspberries. On to the data: Last week,…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
One of this week’s 55 proposed regulations is a 264-page Interior Department regulation to prevent water stream pollution from coal mines. Final rules published cover…
News Release
CEI on REINS Act – Fixing Regulation Without Representation
Today the U.S. House of Representatives are voting on the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. For years, Competitive Enterprise Institute’s…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill turned five years old this week (see CEI analysis here, here, and here). Other than that, it was business as…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a busy week for the Federal Register, which included a 629-page proposed regulation from the EPA for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy for…
Blog
Sunsetting Federal Regulations
An average of around 70 rules and regulations are issued every week. There were 3,554 in 2015, and have been 1,693 in 2015 as of…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The newest batch of federal regulations cover everything from municipal fireworks shows to Venezuelan sanctions. On Monday, the Federal Register will likely pass the 40,000-page mark. On…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a short work week due to the July 4 holiday, but regulators still managed to publish 34 proposed regulations and more than 90…
Blog
Independence Day? Yeah, Right: A Fourth of July Roundup of Federal Regulation
Congress is in recess and can’t do any more damage as the Fourth of July approaches, but federal agencies remain in business until they enjoy…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The big news from last week was the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell decision, which upheld the IRS’ right to issue regulations directly contradicting legislation passed by…
Blog
One Nation, Ungovernable? Confronting the Modern Regulatory State
(Note: What follows is a hyperlinked version of the introductory paragraphs to the chapter of the same name in the new Fraser Institute/Mercatus…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Federal Register passed the 35,000-page mark with new regulations covering everything from food additives to chimpanzees. On to the data: Last week, 81 new final regulations…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a prolific week for the Federal Register, with more than 1,700 pages covering everything from real estate appraisal to water banks. On to the…
Blog
How Many Significant Regulations Escape Congress’ Notice?
The Spring 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions was released in late May, presenting recently completed actions and ongoing priorities of the federal…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New regulations last week covered everything from growing cherries to airport security fees to preventing collisions at sea. On to the data: Last week, 65…
Blog
Obama Has Issued More “Economically Significant” Rules in 6.5 Years than Bush Did in Eight
It happens to be the case that, in terms of overall counts of rules and regulations published in the Federal Register as final rules, the George W.
Blog
Here Are All 205 “Economically Significant” Rules in the Spring 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
The Spring 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Deregulatory and Regulatory Actions was released by the Obama administration just before Memorial Day weekend. It’s less of a…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a four-day work week because of the Memorial Day holiday, but regulators still had a busy week, with new regulations covering everything from…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The big regulatory news from last week was the publication of the semiannual Unified Agenda, which lists most upcoming regulations from rulemaking agencies at various…
Forbes
A Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Agenda, Barack Obama Veto Pen Notwithstanding
Congress passes a few dozen laws each year, but regulators meanwhile issue several thousand rules and regulations. On top of that, “regulatory dark matter“…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a slow week despite more than 1,300 Federal Register pages, with just 36 proposed regulations and fewer than 50 final regulations, ranging from spearmint oil…
US News
The Real Cost of Regulation
Peter Roff cites Wayne Crews' work on the cost of regulation in U.S. News. These costs are not insignificant. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Fox Business
Cost of Federal Regulation: $1.88 trillion
Fox Business features Wayne Crews' Ten Thousand Commandments report. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is out with its annual report that estimates that the U.S.
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments 2015: A Fact Sheet
Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American…
News Release
Report Reveals Hidden Tax of Federal Regulation Reaches $1.88 Trillion
In the latest edition of Ten Thousand Commandments released today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reveals the latest on the large, growing “hidden tax”…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Last week’s raft of new rules covers everything from school lunch workers to Flugzeugbau gliders. On to the data: Last week, 65 new final regulations…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The 1,000th new regulation of 2015 was published in Friday’s Federal Register, which itself hit the 25,000-page mark on the year. Even so, agencies are still…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The big news in regulation for the week came from Canada, which made official its one-in, one-out policy for new regulations. New regulations from agencies…
Blog
Balanced Budgets and Regulatory Budgets
The Joint House-Senate Conference Meeting on the federal budget has begun. Chairman Tom Price of Georgia remarked: Completing a budget is one of…
Study
No Spoof
Several states had serious doubts about the validity of tax credits for individuals purchasing insurance on Obamacare's federally facilitated exchange as early as 2011. Questions still remain,…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a fairly typical week, with nearly 70 final regulations and more than 50 proposed regulations hitting the books, covering everything from potato handling…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Along with last wwek’s usual slew of final regulations covering everything from power plants to televisions, an additional 55 proposed regulations also hit the books.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New rules published in the last week include everything from the IRS and Executive Office of the President declaring themselves exempt from select transparency laws,…
Blog
The Republican Budget and Middle Class Economics
Yesterday the House Republicans released their “Balanced Budget for a Stronger America” and the Senate Republicans will release their budget proposal today. House Republicans…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
An otherwise slow week ended with a bang on Friday, with 27 new regulations, or nearly half the week’s total, covering everything from calorie counts…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the King v. Burwell case last week. The decision, likely to appear in June, will determine in part whether regulatory…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The FCC, inspired by a law passed in 1934, unveiled its controversial plan to regulate the Internet as a public utility. Beyond that it was…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In a very cold, holiday-shortened week, federal agencies issued 40 final and 33 proposed regulations covering everything from lithium-ion batteries to small fish in Oregon.
Blog
How to Help Tesla and Taxpayers
Policies aimed at reducing auto emissions in California and 10 other states are having a troubling set of unintended consequences, according to a recent editorial at…
Blog
Does Regulation Hurt Innovation?
How much does regulation crimp innovation? Not very much, according to a new study from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Nathan Goldschlag and George Mason University’s Alex…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
In a week like any other, regulatory agencies issued more than 50 new rules covering everything from from rockfish to wine. On to the data:…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Last week’s batch of new rules covered everything from fluorescent lights to postage rates. On to the data: Last week, 59 new final regulations were…
The Washington Post
Defining Economic Failure Down
George Will cites Wayne Crews' regulatory calculations in his column. The lingering economic anemia is astonishing, given plummeting energy prices. To a…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Regulators stepped up their pace last week, with nearly 80 regulations covering everything from defibrillators to Korean oranges. On to the data: Last week, 77…
Forbes
Obama’s 2016 Federal Budget And Middle Class Economics
To everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate…
Washington Times
Analysis Tracks Costly Path of 3,541 New Federal Regulations, Provides Antidote for Congress
The Washington Times heavily cites CEI's Agenda for Congress and regulatory cost calculations. The frugal but liberty-minded analysts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
RealClear Policy
The Crushing Burden of Government Regulation
Anyone concerned about the future of jobs and economic competitiveness in America must have been disappointed by the litany of free lunches and new government…
Study
Free to Prosper
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Even in a shortened work week due to Martin Luther King Day, federal agencies still put out 40 final regulations and more than 50 proposed…
Blog
President Obama Says We’ve “Turned the Page” – Really?
In previewing his 2015 State of the Union Address, President Obama said … "2014 was the fastest year for job growth since the 1990s.
Forbes
Obama’s State Of The Union Address In Five Words
Even before presidents become lame ducks, their State of the Union Address proposals often don’t materialize. President Barack Obama is one of five lame…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
40 new regulations, from solid waste to washing machines.
Blog
Free to Prosper: Top Priorities for the 114th Congress
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new congressional…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Happy New Year to all of our regulatory followers! Wayne Crews previously summed up 2014’s year-end statistics in this post. Among the highlights are 3,541…
The Blaze
Obama’s Abuse of the Veto Makes Him an ‘Imperial President’
Just a few days into the new Congress, and President Barack Obama already has made three—count ‘em—credible veto threats. Representatives and Senators had barely started…
Forbes
CES And A Case For Separation Of Technology And State
As the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) winds down, there’s a lot of stuff you probably hope doesn’t stay in Vegas. Creative contributions to the…
Human Events
Welcome to 2015 and the Year of the Regulators
The tinsel had hardly fallen from the trees and the family reunion squabbles barely subsided—and the Washington Redskins’ disastrous season just ended—before two Washington Post…
Washington Examiner
Unconstitutionality Index: Feds Issued 27 Regs for Every New Law, 3,541 in 2014
Wayne Crews discusses the year in regulation with Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard: In a brand new calculation done by the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
CEI’s 2015 Unconstitutionality Index: 27 Regulations for Every Law
There’s this idea floating around about America’s do-nothing Congress, that laws aren’t being passed. The Los Angeles Times called Congress “ineffective,” in 2013 since it passed…
Blog
2014 Ends with a 78,978-Page Federal Register; 3,541 Rules and Regulations
At year-end 2014, the Federal Register stands at 78,978 pages, the fifth-highest count ever. (The published version contains 79,066 pages, but I net out blank and skipped…
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