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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The week in regulations: Wildfire appraisals and portable spas
President Trump and El Salvador president Nayib Bukele confirmed that they would continue to imprison people without due process. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
Blog
The executive order that could kill trillion-dollar bailouts
The federal government doesn’t just spend—it also regulates through spending. That’s one reason crises so often inflate Washington’s role in American life. But as I…
Blog
The week in regulations: Pool ladders and helicopters
President Trump paused his Liberation Day tariffs after financial markets crashed. Even with the pause, America’s tariffs are still among the world’s highest. Agencies issued…
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Labor Unions Blast Obama’s American Airlines-US Airways Merger Lawsuit
Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice and six state attorneys general filed suit to block the planned merger of American Airlines and US Airways. I…
Daily Caller
Study: Put regulators on a budget
The idea of a regulatory…
Blog
Judge Leon’s Lawless Durbin Amendment Debit Card Decision
Since Judge Richard Leon issued his shocking decision on July 31 that called for even more draconian price controls under Dodd-Frank's Durbin Amendment, some legal commentators…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World, Part 1: Net Neutrality vs. Infrastructure Wealth
On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon's…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
71 new regulations, from D-Day reenactments to bio-fuel usage.
Detroit News
U.S. needs deregulatory stimulus
Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute recently published the “Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.” It is filled…
Saipan Tribune
Weak US foreign policy
“CEI, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, is one of a growing group of organizations that monitors and quantifies the 80,000 or so pages of federal regulations…
Blog
3 Things You May Not Know about the US Airways-American Airlines Merger Lawsuit
On Tuesday, August 13, the Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia filed suit to block the planned $11 billion merger…
Blog
Let in More Foreign Doctors to Fix Looming Shortage of Physicians Aggravated by Obamacare
“Bring on the foreign doctors,” writes Slate’s Brian Palmer: If President Obama’s health care reform plan is implemented in its current form, the United…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 15, 2013: Justice Department Blocks Airline Merger
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner thinks the charges are overblown, and has ideas of his own for increasing competition.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
83 new regulations, from sweet cherries to air.
Blog
Not With Banks, Not With Retailers, But With Freedom
In explaining my policy positions, I often find myself pointing out I am neither pro-business nor pro-bank, but pro-market. My Competitive Enterprise Institute colleagues and I…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 8, 2013: CEI Appeals Dismissal of Dodd-Frank Lawsuit
CEI general counsel Sam Kazman discusses plans to appeal the case.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
82 new regulations, dairy import licenses to information sharing.
Blog
The Misleading Push for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Last year, the Senate did not ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with supporters falling just short of the two-thirds…
News Release
After Nearly 20 Years, CEI Applauds Victory on REINS Act
WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2013 – Wayne Crews, vice president of policy and director of technical studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, had the following…
Comment
Comments to the OMB on its 2013 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations and Agency Compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
Wayne Crews submitted comments to the OMB on its 2013 Draft Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations and Agency Compliance…
Blog
Court Wrong to Make Dodd-Frank Durbin Price Controls More Draconian
Today, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the Federal Reserve's implementation of the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, which sets price controls on…
Blog
Regulation of the Day Update: Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
The USDA is temporarily suspending its magician's rabbit-license regulations "in order that we may undertake a review of their requirements."…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 31, 2013: REINS Act Hits the House Floor
Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which is expected to pass the…
Blog
REINS Act to Hit House Floor Tomorrow
The bill would add some oversight to a regulatory process that has far too little of it.
Forbes
Congress Confronts ‘Laws Gone Wild’
How extensive is federal regulation? The “hidden tax” now tops $1.8 trillion annually, an immense drain on innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity and living standards. Federal…
Blog
New USTR Discusses Trade Agenda, How U.S. and EU Can Address Divergent Regulatory Regimes
At a forum this morning hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the new U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, discussed the next steps…
Blog
The Rip-Off that Is Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing rules allow trade schools in some states to force students to attend them, enabling the schools to charge students lots of tuition for…
Blog
Regulating E-Cigarettes Creates the Wrong Incentives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is gearing up to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by early October. These regulations, rather than protecting the public…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
80 new regulations, from turtle-killing to felon financiers.
Blog
More Economic Suffering Due to Obamacare
The Washington Post reports on the ever-growing number of people losing wages and facing pay cuts due to the 2010 healthcare law: For Kevin…
Blog
D.C. Council Bows to UFCW, Votes No on Walmart, Yes to High Prices
Washington, D.C., has some of the highest living costs in the country. Its metro area contains six of the nation’s ten wealthiest counties, making it…
Blog
On Dodd-Frank’s 3rd Anniversary, “North Star” is Further Out of Reach
Over the weekend, President Obama hailed the third anniversary of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank “financial reform.” In his weekly radio address, the president…
Blog
The Government’s Wasteful Obsession with Subsidized Homeownership
The government has spent vast sums of money promoting homeownership through subsidies, tax exemptions, and bailouts. For example, in prosperous Alexandria, Virginia, certain people who…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
68 new regulations, from Topeka shiners to room air conditioners.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 232: Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
Marty Hahne has put on children's magic shows for almost 30 years. USDA regulations require both a license and a written disaster plan for his…
Blog
The FTC’s Uneasy Relationship With Innovation
The Sherman and Clayton Acts form the backbone of U.S. antitrust policy. But another piece of legislation gives the government the power to regulate business…
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Unions Plead for Changes to Obamacare, Citing Lost Wages and Benefits
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the leaders of three major labor unions are asking Congress to make fundamental changes to Obamacare, saying that without such changes, it will…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
84 new regulations, from apartment building energy usage to when truckers have lunch.
Blog
The Apple E-Book Ruling and Antitrust Absurdity
A recent ruling against Apple over its e-book pricing policies highlights the absurdity of antitrust laws, as I point out in the Daily Caller:…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 11, 2013: Farm Bill Controversy
Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith breaks down the controversy surrounding this year's farm bill.
Blog
Scientists Warn of Dangers of “Precautionary Science”
Eighteen scientists recently weighed in on the unscientific and dangerous nature of the so-called “precautionary principle” in the July issue of the journal Food…
Blog
Senate Committee Passes ENDA, Which Would Lead to Meritless Litigation and Erode Free Speech
A Senate Committee has voted 15-to-7 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, "a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis…
Blog
SEC Finally Permits Free Speech for Hedge Funds, VCs, and Entrepreneurs
Today is finally the day that the Securities and Exchange Commission -- one year and three months after it was instructed to do so by…
Blog
Regulation Causes Inflation
Over at the American Spectator, I show why an unintentional and unavoidable side effect of regulation is inflation:…
Blog
Obama Administration Discards Reporting Requirements in Obamacare
The Obama administration has illegally discarded the reporting requirements mandated by the 2010 healthcare law, which were designed to prevent countless billions of…
Blog
Beauty and the Beast: Agriculture for the Future
It’s a tale as old as time. How will we feed all the people on this planet of ours, especially with the global population set…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
78 new regulations, from energy efficiency standards for imports to the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee.
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 3, 2013: The EPA’s Assault on State Sovereignty
William Yeatman discusses his new study, "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Assault on State Sovereignty."…
Blog
Uncertainty and New Regulatory Burdens Hinder Recovery
Since 2011, the Obama administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been reviewing significantly fewer rules than in prior years and taking longer…
Blog
Her Majesty’s Initiative: Innovation for All?
On Monday, the Financial Times published an editorial praising the United Kingdom’s government for its “provisional approval” of a new in vitro fertilization (IVF)…
Forbes
On Independence Day — How Free Are You, Really?
As reported in Reason by Ronald Bailey, a recent study finds that “Federal Regulations Have Made You 75 percent Poorer.” The claim is that GDP…
Forbes
On Independence Day — How Free Are You, Really?
As reported in Reason by Ronald Bailey, a recent study finds that “Federal Regulations Have Made You 75 percent Poorer.” The claim is that GDP…
Blog
French Cheese Ban: An Attack on “Scientific Principles” in Violation of Treaties Protecting International Trade?
Earlier, we wrote about the U.S. government's de facto ban on the commonplace, perfectly healthy, normal-smelling French cheese mimolette (which I once confused with…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
80 new regulations, from school lunches to the legal definition of “ski area.”…
Blog
Another Federal Appeals Court Rules against Obama Administration’s Contraceptive Mandate
Contraceptives are easy to obtain, and forcing employers to include a broad array of contraceptives in employee health insurance makes as little sense as forcing…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 26, 2013: TSA Full-Body Scanner Transparency
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses the TSA's lack of transparency and the scanners' ineffectiveness in deterring terrorism.
Blog
Federal Regulations Make Americans 75 Percent Poorer
"Federal regulations have made you 75 percent poorer," and as a result, "U.S. GDP is just $16 trillion instead of $54 trillion," says an…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
96 new regulations, from fireworks shows near water to handling FOIA requests.
Blog
E-Verify: A Boon for Lawyers, Bad for Employers
I have written extensively about the threats to Americans’ civil liberties from E-Verify, the employment verification system contained within the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)…
Blog
A Critique of “300 Million Engines of Growth”: Why More Spending Won’t Cure what Ails U.S. Infrastructure
Earlier this month, the Center for American Progress issued a report in which it set out recommendations for growing the American economy. A significant…
Forbes
Bad regulation is our biggest public scam
In the US, the Competitive Enterprise Institute recently surveyed the extent and cost of federal regulations. The Federal Register, a compendium of regulations, has swollen…
Blog
More Recognition that Dodd-Frank Harms Main Street Banks, Farmers, and Airline Passengers
In two high-profile forums last week, Dodd-Frank, the financial "reform" law sold as targeting Wall Street, was shown to have a devastating effect on Main…
Blog
Spread the Word: New Voice for Wine Consumers
With the launch of The American Wine Consumer Coalition today, U.S. wine consumers now have a place in public policy debates for the first…
Blog
D.C. Council Passes New Rules: Food Trucks Are Here to Stay
After four years, the Council of the District of Columbia finally passed rules to regulate the burgeoning mobile food industry that seem to please all sides.
Blog
President Repeats False “Equal Pay” Statistic Claiming Women Earn 77 Percent of What Men Do
President Obama repeated a myth about equal pay and pay discrimination, as the economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth notes at RealClearMarkets: Last week in the…
Blog
E-Verify National ID System Threatens Americans’ Privacy
“I’m not a criminal, so there’s really no reason for me to be in a criminal database.” That was James Shepherd, a Kentucky native…
Blog
Obamacare and Activist State Courts Drive Up Health Plan Costs
The so-called rate shock from Obamacare has hit Ohio. The state’s Department of Insurance announced last Thursday that the average individual-market health insurance premium…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
93 new regulations, from tanning taxes to wine labels.
Study
Avoiding the Regulatory Cliff
Full Document Available in PDF A Bipartisan Agenda to Restore Limited Government and Revive America's Economy Whether you are new to…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
72 new regulations, from federal pecan insurance to avoiding collisions at sea.
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 6, 2013: Making Passenger Rail Affordable
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses a new CEI study arguing that regulations make passenger train cars unnecessarily expensive.
Blog
France Needs a “Power-Up” When It Comes to Labor Reform
In its annual country report released on Monday, the IMF turned up the heat on France for labor reform. The Washington-based lender called for…
Blog
Two Decades of Regulatory Growth
Over at The American Spectator, Wayne Crews and I marvel at how much the regulatory state has grown over the last twenty years. We also…
Blog
Pennsylvania’s Liquor Privatization Plan Forgot about the Beer
Beer wholesalers are testifying yesterday morning in the Pennsylvania Senate, expressing their opposition to the proposed plans to privatize the state-run liquor store system.
The American Spectator
Twenty Years of Non-Stop Regulation
Twenty years ago saw the release of the first edition of Ten Thousand Commandments, an annual report that tracks the cost and scope of the…
Blog
George Will on Ten Thousand Commandments
George Will's latest column highlights the main findings of Ten Thousand Commandments.
Blog
European Skepticism of Minimum Wage Falls on Deaf Ears in America
Spain’s central bank—operating within the European country with the highest rate of unemployment—just recommended to the government in Madrid a suspension of the minimum…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
61 new regulations, from Cotton taxes to endangered Hawaiian plants.
Washington Post
A mandate that is off the rails
Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has recently published his “Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.” This year’s…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 30, 2013: The Politics of Caffeine
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced plans to investigate, and possibly regulate, caffeine consumption. Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton prefers separation of…
Blog
Regulatory Opacity
In today’s Investor’s Business Daily, Wayne Crews and I make the case that one of the biggest obstacles to regulatory reform is a lack of…
Blog
TTB to Allow, Not Require, Nutritional Labeling on Alcoholic Products
It’s a rare occasion that we get to praise government agencies. While the federal agency governing alcoholic beverages certainly took it’s time to make a…
Investor's Business Daily
America’s Soaring Regulations Cost $1.8 Trillion A Year
Politicians from both parties routinely tout the need to roll back unnecessary regulations. But how much overregulation is there exactly? Most politicians have no idea,…
Blog
More than Taxing and Spending
The cost of government is far more than it taxes and spends. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s editorial board agrees, as they opined yesterday:…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
68 new regulations, from Potato Administrative Committees to Segelflugzeugbau sailplanes.
Investor's Business Daily
The cost of regulations: Economic tyranny
The big-government Obama administration’s propensity for end runs around Congress exacerbates the unchecked growth of federal regulations that diminish both liberty and prosperity.
Blog
Regulation of the Day Update: Olive Oil Victory
I recently posted that new EU regulations would require restaurants to use factory packaged and sealed bottles of olive oil. This would put small…
Blog
Anti-Business and Anti-Freedom: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
In the American Spectator, CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray and Geoffrey McLatchey explain why the Senate should be skeptical of the United Nations Convention…
Blog
Does Austerity Really “Kill”?
Does austerity kill? In a recent New York Times op-ed, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu claim that fiscal austerity leads to a worsening of health…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 22, 2013: Twenty Years of Ten Thousand Commandments
The twentieth anniversary edition of Ten Thousand Commandments was released this week. Author Wayne Crews discusses the study, and how regulation has evolved over the…
Blog
Possible Unintended Consequences in New Obamacare Regulation
The PCIP program gives health care providers an incentive to refuse treatment to people who desperately need it.
One News Now
CEI report: Uncle Sam loves his regulations
Americans spent an estimated $1.8 trillion in 2012 to comply with federal regulations, reports the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The public policy organization has just released…
Breitbart
Cost of Complying with U.S. Regulations Higher Than Canada’s GDP
$1.8 trillion buys a lot of red tape. That’s how much the federal regulatory machine is costing Americans each year, according to the…
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments Released Today
Over at the Daily Caller, Wayne and I briefly summarize of few of the report’s findings.
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2013
The scope of federal government spending and deficits is sobering. Yet the government's reach extends well beyond taxation and spending. Federal regulations cost hundreds of…
Daily Caller
The Towering Federal Register
This week marks the publication of the 20th anniversary edition of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the federal regulatory state, Ten Thousand Commandments.
News Release
Ten Thousand Commandments: Regulations Increasingly Used to Enact Measures Voters Wouldn’t Approve
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 21, 2013 – In the twenty years since the creation of Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory…
Products
Ten Thousand Commandments 2013: A Fact Sheet
Full Document Available in PDF 1. This is the 20th anniversary of Ten Thousand Commandments. In that time, 81,883 final rules have…
Blog
Udall-Paul Legislation Spreads Freedom for Credit Unions and Entrepreneurs
By definition, if a bill is sponsored by Sens. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., or any similarly odd ideological couples in the House, it…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 231: Serving Olive Oil
Starting January 1, 2014, any olive oil served at EU restaurants “must be in pre-packaged, factory bottles with a tamper-proof dispensing nozzle and labelling in…
Blog
10KC in WSJ
The Wall Street Journal editorial board weighed in this morning on the issue of regulation, citing a few numbers from the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
This week in the world of regulation: Last week, 71 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. This is up from 64 new final…
Wall Street Journal
Red Tape Record Breakers
President Obama is opposing a bill passed by the House last week that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to better measure the costs…
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