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
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…

Blog
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…

Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Trump vs. the Regulatory State with Susan Dudley
In this week’s episode we cover how the feds are forcing your bank to spy on you, a new strategy for housing…
Search Posts
Time
Inside Scott Pruitt’s Mission to Remake the EPA
Time Magazine quotes Myron Ebell on Scott Pruitt’s opportunity to battle overregulation within the EPA. Bonnie Wirtz was tending to her Minnesota farm one…
RealClear Politics
It’s Time for Trump to Kill the Regulatory Swamp Monsters
RealClear Politics discusses the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s impact on financial regulation referencing CEI.
Forbes
A CES Takeaway: Don’t Fear Robots and Artificial Intelligence, Fear Politicians
Maroon 5 keeps popping up on my Pandora stations, so artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning still have a ways to go. Even if AI…
JD Supra
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
JD Supra covers developments of the CFPB’s payday loan rule and Daniel Press’ “7 Reasons to Oppose the Federal Payday Loan Rule.” On December 1, 2018,…
Marketplace
Counting Pages of Regulations Is a Waste of Time (and Paper)
Marketplace covers our work on regulations. President Donald Trump stood in front of two piles of paper last month. One was the current Code…
Blog
Debunking the ‘Race to the Bottom’ Theory of Regulatory Competition
Its success in policymaking notwithstanding, the "race to the bottom" theory has fared poorly with the passage of time.
Reason
Trump Turns One
Reason covers President Trump’s first year in office. The 45th president does not tend to elicit measured evaluations. Since even before his formal entry…
The Washington Times
White House Urged to Kill Obama-era Payday Lending Rule
The Washington Times covers CEI’s letter sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) regarding the payday-lending rule. A free-market group is urging…
The National Law Review
Overturning the CFPB’s Final Payday Loan Rule by Reopening Rulemaking or CRA Resolution
The National Law Review discusses the various vehicles that could be used to repeal the CFPB’s small-dollar loan rule. On December 1, 2018, three…
Forbes
Net Neutrality and Senate Democrats’ Renewed Love for the Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is the law by which the Republican Congress and the Trump Administration eliminated 14 of…
Blog
Antitrust Resurgence Could Transform Tech Innovators into Lumbering Public Utilities
Regulation in the technology sector is worse than government merely picking winners and losers.
News Release
CEI Commends Introduction of GOOD Act, Requiring More Agency Transparency
This week, Congressman Mark Walker introduced the Guidance Out Of Darkness (GOOD) Act to improve agency transparency and accountability, while reducing the creep of federal…
Fox News Channel
VIDEO: Iain Murray Discusses Shrinking Government Bureaucracy on Fox News Channel
January 15, 2018 – Iain Murray, Vice President for Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, joined Fox News Channel’s The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton…
Forbes
Who Will Own the Infrastructure in the Smart City?
There is great enthusiasm for the smart city concept. Integration of autonomous vehicles, drones and networked communications are expected to manage congestion, lead to fewer…
InsideSources
How Trump Is Laying Regulations to Waste
InsideSources covers deregulation under the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has taken an aggressive approach in his push to rollback regulations, begging the question…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Budget Chief Shuts Down Consumer ‘Protection’ Bureau ‘Slush Fund’
The Washington Examiner covers the review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘slush fund.’ An educational “slush fund” used by the Consumer Financial Protection…
Blog
All Agency Guidance Invalid Unless Submitted to Congress
We urgently need a catalog of guidance documents that were actually submitted to Congress and the Government Accountability Office as required. …
Forbes
The Consumer Electronics Show and Public Policy: Can There Be Separation of Tech and State?
The buzz and pre-show anticipation have begun for the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show(#CES2018) hosted by CTA, the …
Reason
Regulations at ‘Lowest Count Since Records Began Being Kept in the Mid-1970s’
Reason covers year-end analyses of deregulation under President Trump. As the economy and stock market continue to chug along nicely, many analysts and presidents are giving…
The Hill
Media Distracts and Downplays Trump’s 2018 Agenda
Writing for The Hill, Corey R. Lewandowski cites Wayne Crews on Trump’s regulatory numbers. The media loves to talk about scandals, Russia, and …
The Hill
How Trump’s Second Year Can Top His First
Writing for The Hill, Merrill Matthews cites Wayne Crews’ Red Tape Rollback. President Donald Trump had a big job ahead of him when he…
Blog
The 2018 Unconstitutionality Index: 28 Federal Agency Rules for Every Law Congress Passes
Even when an administration tries to cut regulation, the number of rules from hundreds of federal agencies will vastly outstrip the number of laws Congress passes.
Forbes
Warning Signs: Will Federal Agencies Derail Trump’s 2-for 1 Deregulatory Agenda?
In mid-December, the Trump administration touted success exceeding its one-in, two-out regulatory goals for managing on-the-books regulations, achieving instead a one-in, 22-out ratio. These goals had…
Fox News
Trump’s Tax Bill and Regulatory Reform Will Spark an Economic Boom, Benefiting All Americans
Writing for Fox News, Chuck Devore cites 10,000 Commandments. Historic tax cut legislation that President Trump signed into law Friday will give us the chance to…
The Wall Street Journal
The Great Rules Rollback
The Wall Street Journal covers deregulation under the Trump administration. Amid the debate over tweets and tax reform, perhaps the most significant change brought…
Bloomberg Politics
Trump Stretches Meaning of Deregulation in Touting Achievements
Bloomberg Politics discusses deregulation with Wayne Crews. One is a federal rule, initiated by former President Barack Obama, that removed Yellowstone’s grizzlies from the list…
The Hill
Conservatives Packed 2017 with Victories — Push 2018 Even Further
Writing for The Hill, Carrie Sheffield cites 10,000 Commandments. With a wild 2017 behind us, conservatives looking to 2018 face typical electoral headwinds for a midterm…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Regulatory ‘Red Tape’ Lowest in a Quarter Century, 35% Below Obama’s
The Washington Examiner covers deregulation under the Trump administration. Adding to his administration’s success in cutting Obama era regulations, President Trump also issued the…
The Wall Street Journal
Rookie of the Year
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, James Freeman cites Wayne Crews’ tally of Federal Register pages. Donald Trump is not the most dignified man to…
Lifezette
Trump’s Anti-Red Tape Effort Shows Biggest Drop in New Edicts Since 1993
Lifezette cited Clyde Wayne Crews on his new book and the impact of President Trump’s anti-regulatory campaign on the nation’s economy. Government agencies…
Blog
Trump Regulations: Federal Register Page Count Is Lowest In Quarter Century
Today, Friday, December 29, 2017, is the last federal workday of the year. This presents an opportunity to round up all rules and regulations produced…
Blog
So, What Regulations Did Trump Eliminate?
President Donald Trump has made much news over slowing down the flow of regulations in 2017, and over new promises to reduce even more…
Forbes
Trump’s New 2018 Deregulatory Agenda
Just in time for Christmas, the Trump administration released the Fall 2018 edition of the twice-yearly Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda…
Blog
Sugarplums or Lumps of Coal? The White House’s 140 Economically Significant Rules
In the White House’s new "Unified Agenda," the administration touts success in surpassing President Trump’s goal to eliminate two regulations for every one adopted.
Investor's Business Daily
Trump’s Deregulation Binge
Investor’s Business Daily covers President Trump’s regulatory reform efforts. With all that was going on last week, maybe you missed this: President Trump has…
Blog
Trump Reviews and Renews Regulatory Rollback Agenda
On December 14, President Trump outlined his administration’s deregulatory achievements to date and regulatory reform goals for 2018. He emphasized the importance of cutting…
Wall Street Journal
Dow 24000 and the Trump Boom
Maria Bartiromo, writing for Wall Street Journal, cites 10,000 Commandments. I’m not in the habit of giving stock tips or making market calls. I’ve never…
Blog
Trump’s New Regulatory Reform Agenda – By the Numbers
Today the Trump administration released the Fall 2017 edition of the twice-yearly Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, accompanied…
USA Today
No, the Internet Is Not About to Be Destroyed
The headlines regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming vote on “net neutrality” regulations suggest impending doom. “FCC Is Revving Up to Destroy the Internet…
Blog
President’s Fall Policy Update
We have measures and very clear guideposts to tell us if we are on the right path.
RealClear Policy
Why Government Grows Despite the Constitution
Nearly every administration since Reagan has pledged to reduce the size of the bureaucracy or increase government efficiency, but they have all missed the low…
Blog
Senate Bill’s Stealth FIFO Capital Gains Hike Hinders Tax Reform
It’s crunch time on tax reform! The House passed a bill just before Thanksgiving. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. A good tax reform bill would…
The New York Times
Net Neutrality Hits a Nerve, Eliciting Intense Reactions
The New York Times covers the proposed rollback of Net Neutrality regulations. It usually doesn’t take much to get people on the internet worked…
Bloomberg View
Trump Deserves Some Credit for the Rally in Stocks
A. Gary Shilling, writing for Bloomberg View cites Wayne Crews’ “10,000 Commandments.” Reducing government regulation is tough. It’s resisted by all those who benefit, including…
Fox News
Trump’s Assault on the Administrative State Will Benefit America
Fox News covers President Trump’s recent regulatory rollbacks. Occurring largely behind the scenes, President Trump’s most significant contribution to a more prosperous America is…
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Under the Radar, Trump, Republicans are in Frontal Assault of Obama-era Regulations
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses the cost of regulations with Wayne Crews. While fights over health care and …
Politico
FCC’s next step on net neutrality: Blocking the states
CEI fellow Jessica Melugin quoted in Politico on the FCC’s next on net neutrality. Some states and cities could still try to impose…
New York Times
Justice Department Sues to Block AT&T-Time Warner Merger
New York Times article discusses the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block the AT&T-Time Warner Merger Legal experts were divided on the merits…
News Release
CEI Says Pai’s Roll Back of Net Neutrality Regulations is ‘Immediate Victory’ for Transparency and ‘Promising Sign’ for Upcoming Vote
Competitive Enterprise Institute adjunct fellow Jessica Melugin offered a response to the news that the Federal Communications Commission is announcing its plan today…
Medium
A Better World Begins With Better Bureaucracy
Maleka Momand writing for Medium cites Wayne Crews’ “10,000 Commandments.” The U.S. economy loses trillions of dollars every year to regulatory compliance costs, and state…
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