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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Free the Economy podcast: Crushing capitalism with Norbert Michel
In this week’s episode we cover the Trump administration’s AI action plan, Detroit’s unlikely rebirth, pushing back on EU tech regulation,…
Blog
The week in regulations: Cable TV and paper straws
Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, and Chuck Mangione passed away. President Trump issued an Executive Order on artificial intelligence and announced a tariff deal with Japan.
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Costs and benefits of urban transit with John Charles
In this week’s episode we cover Dodd-Frank’s 15th anniversary, a victory for homeowners in Oregon, and an alternative to socialist grocery…
Search Posts
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Michigan May Fire Salvo Against Regressive Debit Card Price Controls
In the battle against Obamacare, the shots heard ’round the world were resolutions against the law by state legislatures. These resolutions led to court cases that…
Blog
Hold the Sizzle: Chipotle, Immigrant Employees Get ICE’d
Chipotle boasts that it offers “food with integrity,” but the popular restaurant chain may want to consider an addendum in light of its recent actions:…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: FTC Warns About Public Wi-Fi Hotspot Dangers: “The OnGuardOnline.gov website, operated by the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Homeland Security, Commerce Department…
Op-Eds
TSA Union Power Grab
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for taxpayers and airport travelers – but a good one for government employee unions. As if the…
News Release
Obama Budget Fails On Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., February 14, 2011 — President Barack Obama has submitted a $3.73 trillion spending budget blueprint for fiscal 2012, blowing well past President George…
Orange County Register
Deceptive Obama Budget Still Bloated
The Orange Country Register discusses President Obama's deceptive budget with Iain Murray. "The president is pulling a fast one on the public when he…
Blog
The Pitfalls of Unionizing the TSA
Robert Verbruggen wrote recently about the downside of unionizing the TSA in the National Review, taking issue with the Obama Administration’s decision to allow the…
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PolitiFact: Obama Made False Claims About Health Care, Taxes, and Court Rulings
PolitiFact, which earlier took Obama’s side about whether Obamacare is a government takeover of health care, now is criticizing President Obama for making…
NCPA
Regulation without Representation
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CEI Podcast for February 10, 2011: How Not to Stop Eminent Domain Abuse
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner takes a close look at an eminent domain reform bill just passed by the Texas State Senate.
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Put Regulations on a Life-Cycle Budget
Reading through the headlines, the top economic stories are about scrutiny of regulation and spending proposals regarding the federal budget. But the similarities and differences…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 10, 2011
Massachusetts: State Representative Alice Peisch filed legislation this week (HD 2759), which would amend the state’s outdated laws from the 1970s that make it…
Creators
A Killer Agency
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 9, 2011
Connecticut: Two days after Super Bowl Sunday, Connecticut lawmakers held a hearing on one of the most contentious issues this session:…
Blog
Regulation without Representation
Congress never actually votes on most regulations. As Wayne Crews and I explain in today's Investor's Business Daily, this is regulation without representation.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: 1Gbps Wi-Fi Soon Coming To a Billion Devices: “Not only is 1Gbps heading for your Wi-Fi network by next year, it will…
Creators
Freddie, Fannie May Be Finished, But What Comes Next?
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Common Sense: Making Union Officials Help Union Members
Recently, there have been numerous protests about Republican legislation that it is supposedly anti-union and limiting the rights of workers. I don’t buy it. Let…
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Regulation of the Day 164: Panhandling
If Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett gets his way, panhandlers will need a government permit to ask people for money if they’re near a road.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: China building a city for cloud computing: “China is building a city-sized cloud computing and office complex that will include a mega…
Creators
Regulation Destabilization: Time For Reform, Washington
On Feb. 14, President Obama will release his fiscal budget. It’ll be big. But even that alternate universe tells only part of the story of…
Lew Rockwell
A Killer Agency
News Release
REINS Act, Regulatory Reform Will Foster Deep-Rooted Economic Recovery
Washington, D.C., February 8, 2011 – This week is good news for those who have advocated regulatory reform as a means of boosting the economy.
Investors' Business Daily
Regulation Without Representation
Regulatory agencies enact more than 3,500 new regulations in an average year. A new federal rule hits the books roughly every two hours, 24…
Blog
FDIC’s Pay Caps Will Keep Businesses on “Sidelines”
At 11:30, in a much-anticipated speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama used Super Bowl analogies to urge American businesses to “get off the…
Blog
Another TSA Nightmare
The writer Andrew Ian Dodge shares his painful experience at the hands of the TSA at this link. The TSA inflicted prolonged pain on…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Internet is easy prey for governments: “For all that the revolution in Egypt tells us about the power of…
International Liberty
The Federal Bureaucracy: Even More Bloated When You Count the “Shadow” Workforce
International Liberty references Iain Murray's Nationa Review article to discuss the size of the federal workforce. Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
TSA Given Approval To Unionize
As the New York Times says, this is a debate that has been brewing for potentially a decade: the “right” for Transportation Security Administration…
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Regulation of the Day 163: Switchblades
Maine state representative Sheryl Briggs would like to end her state’s switchblade ban – but only for people with one arm.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: A Shortage of Power in Data Centers?: “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, right? If you’ve ever experienced a…
Blog
Ruling Striking Down Health Care Law Was Not “Judicial Activism”
On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down Obamacare as unconstitutional. Judge Vinson concluded that the law’s cornerstone — a requirement that…
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Senate Repeals Obamacare’s 1099 Mandate — OTC Drug Rules Should be Next
Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare —…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: News Corp. Launches Digital Daily: “News Corp. on Wednesday unveiled The Daily, a tablet newspaper that Chairman Rupert Murdoch described as “the…
International Liberty
Leviathan
How many Americans work in government? That’s a difficult question to answer. Officially, as of 2009, the federal government employed 2.8 million individuals out of…
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Thomas Sowell on the Value of Consumer Choice
One of Thomas Sowell’s greatest insights is that in public policy, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. That extends to deciding what to spend money…
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Suspend Obamacare’s 1099 and OTC Drug Rules Pending Supreme Court Action
Monday’s decision by Florida federal judge Roger Vinson striking down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in its…
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The GOP and the Health Insurance Mandate
With the health insurance individual purchase mandate looking more vulnerable than ever, Democrats are trying desperately to get some mileage out…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google accuses Microsoft on search data: “Google has accused arch-rival Microsoft of plagiarising its internet search results in an attempt to narrow…
Forbes
A Federal Regulations Crackdown: Obama’s Dip In The Yangtze
Forbes
Christians In the Middle East and the American Dream
The current uprising in Egypt is troubling many Christians throughout the region, but it is not a stand alone incident. Pope Benedict XVI’s New Year’s…
Blog
FCIC Report Perhaps Too Communicative
Because I so often write letters — which are not always published — I thought I’d share them here. Here’s one to the WSJ regarding…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: 200GB to 25GB: Canada gets first, bitter does of metered Internet: “Metered Internet usage (also called “Usage-Based Billing”) is coming to Canada,…
Forbes
Bulldog is still fighting
Forbes
Liberating Credit Unions and Entrepreneurs
Now more than ever, “civility” is the rage on Capitol Hill. The civility craze may have reached its nadir with what was called “date night”…
Blog
Obamacare Struck Down by Florida Judge; Properly Applies Severability Principles to Invalidate Whole Law
A judge in Florida just declared the health care law known as “Obamacare” unconstitutional, ruling it void in its entirety. Judge Vinson rightly…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 162: Breaking Wind
The southeast African country of Malawi is about to make farting illegal. The government there is trying to “mould responsible and disciplined citizens.”…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Without Internet, Egyptians find new ways to get online: “”When countries block, we evolve,” an activist with the group We Rebuild wrote…
Blog
TSA Shuts Door on Private Airport Screening Program That Exposed TSA’s Inefficiency
The Transportation Security Administration has shut the door on a private airport screening program that was making the inefficient agency look bad by outperforming it…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 161: Crossing the Street
Three states are proposing to make it illegal to listen to your iPod while crossing the street. Legislators in California, New York, and Oregon are…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Facebook posts mined for court case evidence: “It’s the latest litigation tactic in the online age: U.S. lawyers are trying to mine…
Blog
The Supreme Court is NOT Pro-Business
Once again ruling against America’s employers, the Supreme Court Monday broadened the reach of the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s ban on retaliation. It overturned…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Facebook phones to be unveiled next month: “London-based City A.M. is reporting that Facebook, in conjunction with Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC, will…
Yahoo! News
Tuning out: New York, California and Oregon propose banning cell phone and iPod use by pedestrians
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: DOJ seeks mandatory data retention requirement for ISPs: “The U.S. Department of Justice and an organization representing police chiefs from around the…
Yahoo! News
Rolling Back Red Tape: 20 Regulations to Eliminate
Cafe Hayek
Reactions to Last Night’s State of the Union Address
Daily Caller
Bush’s Third Term Continues
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched a satellite into space. Therefore, taxpayers should give more money to politically favored corporations. This is not a…
Blog
Congress Considering “Kill Switch” for Capitalism
Introduced last summer, a bill affording President Obama executive power over private Internet companies in the event of a “national cyberemergency” is returning this year,…
Blog
State of the Union Live-Blogging
CEI's Ryan Young live-blogs President Obama's State of the Union address. Coverage will begin shortly before the speech at 9:00pm EST.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Two-thirds of U.S. Internet users lack fast broadband: “Two-thirds of U.S. Internet connections are slower than 5 Mbps, putting the United States…
Daily Caller
Mis-State Of The Union
Politicians rarely think voluntary markets are so grand that they couldn’t benefit from a good ol’ dose of compulsion. It’s a shame, because that…
Blog
Regulations and Small Business
A theme of President Obama’s State of the Union speech tomorrow is the idea that we need to make America more competitive in the global…
Blog
Our Journey Down Hayek’s Road
As the president lays out his vision for the country in his State of the Union address tomorrow, it’s important to keep a simple question…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Opps: No copied Java code or weapons of mass destruction found in Android: ?Sometimes the sheer wrongness of what is posted on…
Blog
What Should POTUS Say During SOTU?
Freedom Action‘s Myron Ebell, while he isn’t optimistic, answers on a POLITICO forum: In an ideal world, President Barack Obama would use his…
Boston Globe
Obama — the Great Deregulator?
The Boston Globe cites Wayne Crews's comments on President Obama's executive order to stop "outdated" federal regulations. “This executive order is hardly a…
Blog
Andrew Sullivan Blames Tea Party for Budget-Busting Deal That He, Not It, Supported
The deficit is largely the result of “feel-good” bipartisan policies supported by the political establishment. But rather than taking credit for the deficit it…
Blog
Tim Carney Knows How Washington Works
Tim's latest column is a must-read. Lobbying wouldn't be such a booming business if regulation wasn't, too.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Gov will spend 400k pounds to destroy ID card data: “The cost of destroying the personal data collected under the ill-starred programme…
Blog
Yes, Obamacare is a Government Takeover of the Health Care System
In Tuesday’s Washington Post, Glenn Kessler looked at Republican claims about Obamacare, such as the claim that it “is a ‘government takeover’ of the health…
Blog
New York City Taxi Alliance Opposes Competition
From their webpage, we see a press release denouncing Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to allow livery cars (limousines, personal hired cars, etc.) to pick…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Starbucks launches largest mobile payment program in the US: “Starbucks has started accepting mobile payments. Customers can use the Starbucks Card Mobile…
Blog
Six Painless Ways to Cut Federal Red Tape
President Obama signed an Executive Order this week that will initiate a "government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations…
Blog
EPA to Re-Brand Mortality Risk Reduction
A recent paper published by the EPA provides up to date governmental thoughts on attempts to put a value on a statistical life (VSL)…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: FCC signs off on Comcast’s bid to control NBC Universal: “Federal regulators signed off on Comcast Corp.’s bid to control NBC Universal,…
AOL News
6 Painless Ways to Cut Federal Red Tape
In this age of trillion-dollar budgets, deficits and stimulus packages, taxes and spending get all the press. But while the $3.5 trillion federal budget…
Wall Street Journal
Move Reflect Shift In Presidents Tone
The Wall Street Journal discusses regulations and executive orders with Wayne Crews. He didn't disavow the Dodd-Frank Act nor his new health-care law,…
Study
Reform Wetlands Policies
Liberate to Stimulate Index…
Study
Let Market Forces Regulate Internet Gambling
In June 2010, the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was implemented after years of delays. The law regulates banking and credit processes related…
Study
Suspend Mark-to-Market Rules and Make Accounting Regulators Accountable
Liberate to Stimulate Index The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was hauled before Congressional hearings and members of both parties expressed concern…
Study
Protect Free Speech by Rejecting Content Regulation
Liberate to Stimulate Index In recent years, the First Amendment’s protections have been increasingly extended to commercial speech, such as product advertisements…
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Allow Immigrants Full Access to the American Economy
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Phase Out the National Flood Insurance Program
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Counteract Politicization of Federal Science Policy
Liberate to Stimulate Index The federal politicization of science in many areas is harming science itself. Ethics rules and advisory panel guidelines…
Study
Resist New Burdens on the Transportation Sector
Liberate to Stimulate Index The transportation industries—airline, railroad, shipping, and trucking—are networks involving both a flow and a grid. The flow element…
Study
Develop Smart Policies to Help Homeowners Deal with Natural Catastrophes
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Forge a Bipartisan Approach to End Corporate Welfare
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Put Mobility First in Surface Transportation
Liberate to Stimulate Index Surface transportation policy has become less rational and more ideological in recent decades. Environmentalists, urban planners, and their…
Study
Regulate Government Data Collection While Avoiding Perscriptive Privacy Regulation
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Resist Anti Consumer Antitrust Regulation
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Resist Forced Unionization of Public Safety Personnel
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Oppose Taxpayer Bailouts of Underfunded Union Pension Funds
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Reform the Transportation Security Administration
Liberate to Stimulate Index Reform of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is long overdue—as the recent passenger backlash against both the TSA’s…
Study
Restore the Constitutional Right to Property
Liberate to Stimulate Index The right to property is an essential part of a free society, and widespread private property ownership is…
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Eliminate Wage Ceilings for Unionized Workers
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Embrace Private Conservation of Land and Natural Resources
Liberate to Stimulate Index Private stewardship and markets play a critical role in land and natural resource conservation. Much of America’s land…
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Oppose Efforts to Impose Pro-Organized Labor Rules through Regulation
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Protect Endangered Species
Liberate to Stimulate Index The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 is bad for wildlife, because it is bad for people. It…
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End Federal Support for Renewable Energy
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