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
News Release
Regulators propose improvements to Clean Water Act regs: CEI analysis
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a pre-publication copy of a supplemental notice of proposed…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Maximum New York with Daniel Golliher
In this week’s episode we cover climate collusion between California and Quebec, how luxurious college campuses are breeding socialists, and government…
Blog
The regulatory costs we still aren’t counting
Several years ago, I assembled a “Costberg” working paper surveying the largely impenetrable and undisclosed costs of regulation. The project grew out of…
Search Posts
The Hill
White House Admits it’s Late Again in Releasing Regulatory Report
The Hill reports on how Wayne Crews called out the White House Office of Management and Budget about it's late report on regulations. …
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Federal regulators enjoyed a short work week due to Columbus Day, but still published more than 1,300 Federal Register pages with new regulations ranging from…
Blog
White House Stalling Regulation Report Until after Election?
Today, Monday, October 17th, marks the latest that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has ever been with its annual draft Report…
The Hill
Group claims White House delaying regs report until after election
The Hill reports on Wayne Crews's blog post on the late White House Office of Management and Budget's report on regulations. In a…
Wall Street Journal
The Regulatory State May Have Met Its Match in Idaho
The Wall Street Journal highlights Wayne Crews's annual report on the size and cost of federal regulations. The problem in Washington, D.C., is…
Washington Examiner
Obama’s regs cost you a MacBook Pro every year
Washington Examiner discusses Wayne Crews's anaylsis on the Obama administration's record setting rule-making pace. With less than 100 days left in his presidency, the…
Rare
Barack Obama has imposed more regulations than any other president in history
Rare discusses regulation's record breaking year with Wayne Crews. President Barack Obama is on track to impose more regulations than any other American…
Washington Examiner
Obama legacy: Most red tape, regulations ever
Washington Examiner discusses the Obama administration's published regulations with Wayne Crews. Team Obama crossed the 70,000-page mark this week and is on schedule…
The Hill
One way to reduce regulations? Give states the power to reject them.
The Hill mentions Wayne Crews's annual report calculating the cost of federal regulation on the economy. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute has explained, regulations…
Blog
Federal Register Tops 70,000 Pages, Headed for a Major Record
There’s no measure of regulation worse than counting Federal Register pages. But on the other hand, the bureaucracies aren’t exactly bending over backward to disclose…
The Hill
Report: Obama could set record for most rules in 2016
The Hill reports on CEI's tracking of the Federal Register this year. The Obama administration is on pace to make 2016 the busiest…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Federal Register will crack the 70,000-page barrier early this week. New rules found in last week’s 2,000-plus pages range from foreign cars to beetles.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 12: Acknowledge and Minimize Indirect Costs
This is the 12th entry in a series on how the next president can reduce bureaucracy. Earlier installments have addressed a freeze on rulemaking, the role…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 10: Account Separately for Economic, Health and Safety, and Environmental Regulations
This is the 10th entry in a series on how the next president can reduce bureaucracy. Earlier installments have addressed a freeze on rulemaking, the role…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a busy week, with Friday’s Federal Register alone containing 52 final regulations and 809 pages.
USA Today
Short-term government built short-term capitalism: John Allison
USA Today highlights Wayne Crews's calculated costs of federal regulations from his annual report. Not to be outdone, President Obama has overseen the…
The Hill
The poor suffer most from runaway regulation
The Hill cites Wayne Crews's calculated cost of federal regulation from his annual Ten Thousand Commandments report. Regulatory costs, which inevitably are passed…
InsideSources
A New President Needs a New Red Tape Agenda
Federal regulators issue thousands of rules and regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 8: Transparency Report Cards
Improving disclosure and transparency for regulatory output and trends is one area where a new president can unambiguously undertake unilateral initiatives without statutory regulatory reform.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 7: Track Regulatory Accumulation
This is the seventh entry in a series on how the next president can reduce the scope of bureaucracy. Earlier installments have addressed a freeze on…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Agencies issued more than six dozen new final regulations last week, ranging from minerals to dates.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 6: Enhance Disclosure in ‘Unified Agenda’
There are rules, and then there are rules. Agencies are supposed to alert the public to their priorities in the semi-annual “Regulatory Plan and Unified…
Washington Post
How Trump would stimulate the U.S. economy
The Washington Post highlights Wayne Crews's calculated cost of federal regulations from his anual Ten Thousand Commandments report. Beyond trade, America’s Gulliver economy…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 5: Scrutinize Informal ‘Guidance’ Documents
When a new president scrutinizes agency rules as we have called for in this series, he or she also needs to bring “guidance documents” under…
Blog
Response to Prof. Aaron Nielson on ‘Auer Deference’
As I’ve discussed before, there is a robust ongoing debate over the propriety of Article III courts giving binding respect to a regulatory agency’s interpretations…
The Houstonian
$3500 Lemonade Stand: How Government Regulation Stifles Entrepreneurialism
The Houstonian highlights Wayne Crews's annual report on the cost of federal regulations. Regulatory barriers to trade – not only on the federal…
Blog
How A New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 4: Expand Number of Rules Receiving Cost Analysis
The Office of Management and Budget conducts review of some significant or major rules’ cost-benefit analyses, but not quite as many or as deeply as…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Agencies issued 78 new regulations last week, ranging from cherries to dairy.
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 3: Review, Revise, Repeal, and Sunset
Short of the moratorium advocated at the top of this series, and in keeping with the spirit of executive orders and retrospective reviews that agencies…
Blog
Appreciate Checks and Balances on Constitution Day
This Constitution Day marks 229 years since the Framers signed the U.S. Constitution following more than four months of debate, votes, and revisions in Philadelphia.
Forbes
Why Future Federal Communications Commission Oversight Hearings Should Explore Sunsetting the Agency
There’s another Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight hearing underway in the Senate Commerce Committee, with most of the time being spent on doings with…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 2: Boost Resources and Free Market Staff
If we must take the central, top-down administrative state as a given—and it seems that for the time being the Constitution is not coming to…
News Release
CEI Supports Regulatory Integrity Act
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act, introduced by Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). The…
Blog
How a New President Can Roll Back Bureaucracy, Part 1: Freeze Regulations Temporarily
In today’s economy, talk about regulatory liberalization has become a bit more bipartisan.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Despite a Labor Day-shortened work week, agencies still found time to issue regulations from soap to whales.
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 6)
By shedding light on comparative agency activity, budgeting and simultaneous improved congressional oversight could counter agency overreach.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2016 Federal Register broke the 60,000-page mark last week, and became the 25th-largest edition in the Register’s 81-year history before Labor Day.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: American Indian, EpiPen, and Free Speech Fiascos
In this episode of RealClear Radio Hour, we discuss the fiascos of government overreach and overregulation—on American Indian reservations, in the EpiPen saga, and with…
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 5)
Benefits, even more so than costs do not lend themselves to measurement by a third party or external observer, and abuse will result from the…
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 4)
This week I began by making the case for the idea of a regulatory cost budget but wanted to spend time exploring looming pitfalls and…
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 3)
Monday in this space, I advocated the idea of a regulatory cost budget but noted there exist looming pitfalls and political traps that could derail…
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 2)
I advocate the idea of a regulatory cost budget but note that there exists looming pitfalls and political traps that could derail it or easily…
Blog
Rewards and Risks of a Federal Regulatory Budget (Part 1)
Our case for capping and “budgeting” regulatory costs across federal agencies opens by asserting that that, perhaps apart from certain raw compliance and paperwork burdens,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In one of their busiest weeks to date, agencies passed more than a hundred new regulations covering everything from rubies to frogs.
Daily Caller
Obama Finalized $100 BILLION Worth Of New Regulations This Year
The Daily Caller discusses the hidden costs of federal regualtions with Wayne Crews. A report by the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
Forbes
The Federal Communications Commission Should Take A Selfie
There are either dozens of federal agencies or hundreds, depending, seemingly, upon the day of the week or whom one asks. The Federal Communications…
Huffington Post
Unfair Policies Drive Up Home Prices
In an article for CNN, Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine outlines his and Hillary Clinton’s plan to promote fair housing – indeed a…
Blog
Can a New President Cut Regulations Unilaterally?
Both presidential candidates have delivered economic speeches over the past two weeks, and both have at least given a nod to red tape and the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Friday’s Federal Register was one of the year’s biggest, with 74 agency notices, 4 proposed regulations and 15 final regulations spanning 1,119 pages.
Forbes
How The Next President Can Use Executive Power To Jumpstart Economic Growth On Day One (Part 2)
The Federal Register contained over 7,700 rules and regulations among an all-time-record 73,000 pages the year President Reagan was elected. One response was his Executive…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- 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