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…
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Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2022
View Full Report Here Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and…
News Release
Report: Biden Upends Role of Federal Regulators to Seek Climate, Social Justice Policies
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report documents how regulations imposed by the federal government on the private sector have radically shifted since President Biden…
Federal News Network
A snapshot of federal rule-making and its wide scope
Federal News Network cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on federal rule making: Rulemaking is one of the most widespread activities in the federal government.
Blog
Questions the 118th Congress Should Ask OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently held a hearing on the nomination of Richard L. Revesz to be Administrator of the…
Blog
A One-Pager on an “Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act”
In recent months CEI has presented the case for a “Abuse of Crisis Prevention Act” to counter and prevent the political predation that continues to…
Blog
Tackling Unmeasured Government Growth Must be Prioritized in the 118th Congress
Fred L. Smith Jr., the founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, refers to the regulatory state as the least disciplined part of the federal enterprise.
Blog
The Jones Act vs. Puerto Rico, Again
Puerto Rico is almost entirely without power after Hurricane Fiona. Right now, there is a ship just offshore, ready to help. It has…
Comment
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission Regarding the Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule
Comment Submitted: September 12, 2022 Docket No. FTC-2022-0046-0001 On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to…
National Review
The Skyrocketing Cost of Staying Cool This Summer — and Future Ones
Add air conditioning to the long list of items experiencing inflation under the Biden administration. Whether it is fixing your home’s existing system or buying a…
Blog
CDC Restructuring Shows that Institutions Matter
One of my policy mantras is that institutions matter. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) restructuring announcement is big…
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Manchin Disappoints With Inflation Reduction Act
Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has acted as a check on his party’s worst excesses. Manchin has stopped billions, possibly trillions, of…
Forbes
Biden Administration Releases Updated Regulatory Agenda
Apart from a one-time Obama-era glitch, federal agencies have highlighted selected regulatory priorities in Spring and Fall editions of the …
News Release
CEI Report Proposes Legislation to Stop Future Congresses from Exploiting National Crises to Grow Government
WASHINGTON—The United States has been rocked by three major economic crises so far in the 21st century—the 9/11 terror attacks, the 2008 financial crash, and…
Study
The Case for Letting Crises Go to Waste
Executive Summary An Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act to reaffirm boundaries of politicians and the legislation they can pass has become necessary to the survival of limited…
Blog
A Brief Outline of a Regulatory Report Card Congress Should Enact
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so. — Quote frequently attributed to Galileo, that, alas, probably was not…
The Washington Examiner
Warning: Biden’s Costly Overregulation Turns ‘Extreme’
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on President Biden’s Trucking Action Plan and Vice President Kamala Harris’ federal…
National Review
If You Really Want Broad-Based Prosperity, Dismantle the Regulatory State
National Review cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on dismantling the regulatory state: So argues Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise…
Law & Liberty
Dismantling the Regulatory State
Samuel Gregg’s lead article adroitly sketches the opportunities and obstacles to America building a broad-based economy, but I want to focus on one particular…
Forbes
Biden’s $5.79 Trillion 2023 Budget Proposal Would Also Expand Regulation
A billion here and a billion there, as the old saying went, would eventually add up to real money. Not so much…
The Washington Examiner
Biden Regulating ‘Wokeness’ and Socialism into Federal Policy: Expert
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews’ report on Biden’s government equity agenda: “Biden’s ‘whole of government’ equity agenda…
The Washington Examiner
Stymied in Senate, Biden Sets Off ‘Big Bang’ of Regulations
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden’s increased regulatory program proposals: In opening the regulations spigot,…
Inside Sources
Lawmakers Can Help Boost Virginia’s Economic Dynamism with a Regulatory Sandbox Program
As Virginia’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, state lawmakers are looking for ways to attract businesses and promote technological innovation. However, many entrepreneurs and…
Forbes
State & Federal Officials Move to Regulate & Even Ban PFAS Chemicals, But Many Wonder if that Makes Sense
Forbes cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the cost of federal regulations: Federal regulations cost employers, workers, and…
The Doug Collins Podcast
AUDIO: How the Government Regulates Every Room in your House: From Shower Heads to Dishwashers
Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman joins The Doug Collins Podcast to discuss regulations in households: Click here to read more.
The Washington Examiner
Regulatory Costs Soar as Biden Adds Rules Faster Than Predecessors
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Biden Administration regulations: In a broader sense, Wayne Crews, vice president…
Reason
Lawsuit from Former Students Alleges Financial Aid Price Fixing at Elite Universities
Reason cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on how federal regulations affect student loans: Iain Murray, the vice president for strategy…
News Release
Inflation Hits 40 Year High, but Policymakers Can Fix It
Inflation is up, again, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The Federal Reserve has a clear job to do, but Congress and President…
The Economist
Enthusiasm for Regulation, Often in Areas Like the Climate, Shows No Sign of Flagging
The Economist cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulatory guidance: Many new instructions come not as formal rules but in…
The Washington Examiner
Zogby: US Overwhelmingly Wants Less Federal Meddling
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden and regulations: The results were stunning, especially coming at…
Forbes
Joe Biden’s Year in Federal Regulation, 2021
Today is New Year’s Eve. Yesterday, December 31, 2021 was the last federal workday of the year. This presents an obvious opportunity to survey the Federal…
News Release
Consumer Spending Growth Slows: COVID, Inflation, Supply Networks Are Factors: CEI Statement
On news today that inflation rose again in November, CEI Senior Fellow Ryan Young urged policymakers to do their part by spending less: “Consumer spending grew…
Blog
Best Books of 2021: Keith E. Stanovich, The Bias that Divides Us: The Science and Politics of Myside Thinking (MIT Press, 2021)
Today’s political polarization isn’t just annoying; it’s damaging important cultural and family institutions. And tensions won’t deescalate until people figure out the root of the…
Forbes
Here Are the 295 Costliest Rules in Biden’s Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
Along with the big spending, there’s big regulation, too. It seems to be mounting a return. Federal agencies issue …
News Release
Biden EPA Fuel Standard Will Impose All-Pain, No-Gain Policies on Consumers
The Biden administration today announced a final rule raising fuel economy standards for cars and small trucks, reversing a more sensible Trump-era rule. The new…
Forbes
The Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations Delivers on Biden’s Promises of Government Activism
Each Spring and Fall since the 1980s, federal agencies have highlighted some of their regulatory priorities in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory…
The Washington Times
Inflation, Supply Shortages Drive up Christmas Tree Prices
The Washington Times cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on Christmas tree sales: Ryan Young, a senior fellow at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise…
Forbes
This Thanksgiving, Big Government Is the Turkey
The turkeys Peanut Butter and Jelly got a Thanksgiving pardon from Joe Biden at the White House. Presentation of a turkey to the POTUS…
The Washington Examiner
Biden Ramps up Costly Regulations and Hidden Taxes
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden and regulations: “Halloween may be over but Tyrannosaurus Regs…
News Release
CEI Experts Weigh In on Reconciliation Framework Agreed to by White House and Congressional Democrats
WASHINGTON – The White House and congressional democrats announced agreement on a “framework” for a reconciliation bill that will spend nearly $2 trillion and includes…
News Release
U.S. Economic Growth is Slow, Bouncing Back, but Government Big Spending Remains a Threat
The U.S. economy grew at a 2 percent annualized rate in the third quarter of 2021, the slowest increase since the close of the 2020…
Forbes
Congress Should Charter an “Office of No” to Counter Federal Overregulation
While you’ll never hear it from NPR or the rest of the monoculture media, “rule of flaw” by federal agency bureaucracy can impede economic…
Blog
IRS Licensing of Tax Preparers Is Ripe for Abuse
Roughly a quarter of all jobs in America now require some sort of occupational license. Sixty years ago, it was about one job in…
Blog
September Inflation Remains High and Fixable
Inflation remains high, with September’s numbers coming in at a 5.4 percent annualized rate, the highest number in a decade. The Federal Reserve’s target…
Forbes
The Greater Reset: An “Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act” To Restore Limited Government
Coming in the wake of 9/11 and its Patriot Act, and the 2008 financial meltdown, the pandemic marked the third major economic shock of the 21st Century…
Forbes
The Debt Ceiling Marks Republicans’ Turn to Not Let Crisis Go to Waste
Where does all that talk about teachable moments and national conversations go when government refuses to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, a …
Forbes
Debt Ceiling, Meet Domestic Forever Wars
Joe Biden proclaimed to the nation that “I was not going to extend this forever war,” referring to the tw0-decade campaign in Afghanistan. To some,…
Forbes
Republicans Should Kill The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill And Do This Instead
Reminding America that big spending is bipartisan, some Senate Republicans craving the illusion of artful dealmaking …
National Review
Biden’s Regulatory Pen and Phone Must Be Replaced with an ‘Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act’
For folks who talk about boring topics such as federal regulation, it’s normal to discuss costs and counts. I’m one of those people. I actually enjoy writing…
Blog
A Sustained Recovery Needs a Deregulatory Stimulus
Over in The Hill, Wayne Crews and I argue that more deficit spending won’t help the COVID recovery. Regulatory reform is more powerful stimulus…
The Hill
Sustained Economic Growth Needs Congressional Regulatory Reform
Former President Trump was the first president in 30 years to take a serious interest in regulatory reform. You might have to go back to former…
News Release
CEI Supports Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Byron Donald’s New Regulatory Reform Bill to Prune Unneeded Rules
WASHINGTON – Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) recently introduced S. 2239, the Unnecessary Agency Regulations Act of 2021, a law that would require the Office…
FEE
Households Face Up to $14,000 in ‘Hidden’ Federal Taxes Every Year, New Report Reveals
FEE cites CEI’s 10KC study by Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews: The fiscally-conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) just released its annual …
News Release
New Ten Thousand Commandments report evaluates the sweeping hidden tax of regulation; Provides definitive assessment of Trump deregulatory legacy
The Competitive Enterprise Institute issued Ten Thousand Commandments 2021: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State today, a report by Vice President for…
Blog
The 2021 Edition of Ten Thousand Commandments Is Out Now
How much does regulation cost? It’s hard to tell, due to a lack of transparency. The government is legally required to tell the public how…
Products
Tens of Thousands of Pages and Rules in the Federal Register
Download Chapter 5 as a PDF The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its…
Products
Liberate to Stimulate
Download Chapter 10 as a PDF Policy makers frequently propose spending stimulus to grow or strengthen economies. That was certainly the case in the…
Products
Another Dimension of Regulatory Dark Matter: Over 22,000 Public Notices Annually
Download Chapter 7 as a PDF Without actually passing a law, government can signal expectations and influence various industries—including health care, retirement, education, energy…
Products
What Comes after “Trillion”? The Unknowable Costs of Regulation and Intervention
Download Chapter 4 as a PDF If real debt levels on the fiscal budget and entitlements can be vastly higher than the public is…
Products
Swamp Things—Trump’s Discordant Regulatory Impulses Offset His Deregulatory Successes and Expanded the Administrative State
Download Chapter 2 as a PDF President Trump attempted to prune rules and costs and held down regulatory output with more enthusiasm than other…
Products
The Presidential Dimension of Regulatory Dark Matter: Executive Orders and Memoranda
Download Chapter 6 as a PDF Executive orders, presidential memoranda, and other executive actions make up a large component of executive “lawmaking.” They merit…
Products
Toward a Federal “Regulatory Budget”
Download Chapter 3 as a PDF When Congress spends, no one questions that disclosure is necessary for voters to hold representatives accountable. Federal expenditure…
Products
Executive Summary – Ten Thousand Commandments 2021
Download the Executive Summary as a PDF Now a relic, spending control and deficit restraint are indispensable to a nation’s stability and long-term economic…
Products
Bookending the Trump Era: Seven Efforts to Reduce and Streamline Regulatory Flows
Download Chapter 1 as a PDF This 2021 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments begins with a survey of approaches the Trump administration took during…
Products
Government Accountability Office Database on Regulations
Download Chapter 9 as a PDF The various federal reports and databases on regulations serve different purposes: The Federal Register shows the aggregate number…
Products
Analysis of “The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations”
Download Chapter 8 as a PDF One of the goals of regulatory reform should be to improve disclosure and enhance its relevance to rulemaking.
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2021
View Full Report Here Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and…
The Washington Times
Trump-Dependent Media Feels the Pinch
The Washington Times cites CEI’s 10KC study by Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews: The Competitive Enterprise Institute will issue on Wednesday…
Forbes
Here Are the 298 Costliest Rules in the New Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
No matter the presidential administration, federal agencies issue thousands of rules and regulations every year compared to a relative handful of laws passed by…
Forbes
The New White House Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations Promises Government Activism
Federal agencies outline their regulatory priorities in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the “Agenda”) each Spring and Fall. The…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The economic recovery continues, but Congress is still intent on passing unneeded stimulus and infrastructure spending. Inflation is also up, and five antitrust bills are…
News Release
Unified Agenda of Federal Regulation Reflects Biden’s Campaign Against Transparency for the Administrative State
The Biden Administration today released the Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulation, the first regulatory agenda for President Joe Biden. CEI Vice President…
Blog
CPI Inflation Indicator Hits 5 Percent: Not Stagflation, But a Useful Warning
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May came out this morning. At 5 percent, it was higher than expected. CPI has its flaws…
Blog
Stimulating the COVID Recovery without Trillions in Spending
Over at Inside Sources, I make the case that deregulation, freer trade, and continued vaccinations will do more to open up the economy than…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Unemployment is back under 6 percent, and it’s looking more and more like the economy is reverting back to trend. We’re not there yet, but…
The Wall Street Journal
Flying the Politically Correct Skies
The Wall Street Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Biden’s federal budget: Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute …
Forbes
Post-Covid Warning: Fence Federal Regulation and Spending Before the Next Economic Shock
Does it make sense as an ongoing tenet of public policy to regard a few weeks or months of business disruption, like that characterizing the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI’s Wayne Crews looked at the Biden administration’s dismantling transparency reforms for guidance documents and warned that political spending on scientific research would…
Blog
EPA Follows Through on Biden Directive to Hide Guidance Documents from the Public
Before President Joe Biden signed an executive order called Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation that, among much else, instructed federal agencies…
News Release
Some Good News in April 2021 Job Numbers
The unemployment rate didn’t budge much in April, according to just-released data from the Labor Department, but CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins…
Marketplace
Democrats In Congress In No Hurry To Overturn Trump-Era Regulations
Marketplace cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on regulatory reform: Mario Loyola at the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that’s because Republicans were on…
Forbes
Laws Have Mercy: Here is How Biden is Restricting Access to Regulatory Guidance Documents
A significant component of Joe Biden’s first 100 days has been the rapid reversal and work-in-process unwinding of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to…
Las Vegas Review Journal
EDITORIAL: Infrastructure Package Meets Federal Red Tape
The Las Vegas Review-Journal cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on Biden’s infrastructure plan: The projects that might survive the legislative process as…
Bloomberg Law
Biden Infrastructure Plan Has Unlikely Ally in Trump Permit Redo
Bloomberg Law cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on Biden’s infrastructure plan: Mario Loyola, who served as CEQ’s associate director for regulatory reform…
News Release
CEI Commends Sen. Lankford for Introducing Pandemic Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Act
On Thursday, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Pandemic Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Act. The bill would establish an independent commission to…
National Affairs
Putting Regulators on a Budget
National Affairs cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the cost of regulation: Separately, in 2015, regulatory analyst Clyde Wayne Crews…
Washington Examiner
Congress must reassert its legislative authority
It is tempting to claim that resource allocation questions are starker than ever. The classic formulation in political science is guns or…
News Release
CEI Offers Reform Ideas to Congress Aimed at Fostering Resilience and Promoting Economic Renewal
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) offered a set of policy reform goals for the 117th Congress focused on economic stimulus and regulatory…
Products
Free to Prosper: Banking and Finance
View the full chapter on banking and finance here Access to capital, credit, and financial services are fundamental to the operation of a free…
Products
Free to Prosper: Labor and Employment
View the full chapter on labor and employment here Increases in productivity, not artificial increases in labor prices, are the key to economic growth…
Products
Free to Prosper: Regulatory Reform
Read the full chapter on regulatory reform here The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things. One of those things is regulation. People quickly…
Products
Free to Prosper: Technology and Telecommunications
View the full chapter on technology and telecommunications here Few economic sectors rival the technology and telecommunications industries in how rapidly—and momentously—they have evolved.
Products
Free to Prosper: Food, Drugs, and Consumer Freedom
View the full chapter on food, drugs, and consumer freedom here Few matters are as important to individuals as the foods they eat, how…
Products
Free to Prosper: Medical Technology and Health Care
View the full chapter on medical technology and health care here American consumers benefit from a bounty of choice, competition, and innovation in health…
Products
Free to Prosper: Trade
View the full chapter on trade here The new Congress has two urgent tasks on trade policy. First, it needs to help heal the…
Products
Free to Prosper: Transportation
View the full chapter on transportation here Mobility is one of our most important needs, one we often take for granted until it is…
Products
Free to Prosper: Energy and Environment
View the full chapter on energy and environment here REJECT THE GREEN NEW DEAL AND SIMILAR CENTRAL PLANNING SCHEMES The Green New Deal (GND),…
The Washington Times
With an Eye on Prosperity
The Washington Times cites CEI’s publication, Free to Prosper, and related online event: The Competitive Enterprise Institute will release “Free to Prosper,”…
National Review
Tyrannosaurus Regs and Regulatory Dark Matter: Biden’s Accountability Deficit on Regulation
Washington’s new motto is: When you run out of other people’s money, keep spending anyway. It’s a sad state of affairs when a national debt …
Forbes
The Best American Rescue Plan Is An “Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act”
If limits exist that constrain politicians and the legislation they can enact in the name of crisis, rescue or stimulus, it is unclear what they…
Politico
Biden Won’t Release White House Virtual Visitor Logs
Politico cites CEI’s 2020 edition of 10 Thousand Commandments by Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews: In addition, Republican…
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