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.
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News Release
CEI leads coalition letter urging Senate action on regulatory reform bills
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today led a coalition letter to Senate Republican leaders urging passage of two important House-passed regulatory reform bills, the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD)…
Blog
OPFAIL: Establishing a Congressional Office of Political Failure Analysis
For decades, reformers have proposed some version of a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (CORA), a congressional counterpart to the regulatory oversight apparatus housed within…
Blog
The week in regulations: Black boxes and weather reports
The 2026 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages. President Trump’s Justice Department is poised to give him a $1.776 billion fund he can use to reward…
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Chapter 1: Biden’s whole-of-government regulatory philosophy
Prior editions of Ten Thousand Commandments extensively surveyed the Biden administration’s whole-of-government campaigns and the role of executive actions, rules, and memoranda in their pursuit.
Testimony
Wayne Crews testimony before the Committee on House Administration: “Congress in a Post-Chevron World”
Introduction Chairman Steil, Ranking Member Morelle, and Members of the House Committee on Administration, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on issues surrounding…
News Release
CEI study: Congress should establish limits on regulatory power to ensure agencies are not answering major policy questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. According to a new report from…
Study
Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. During the Biden administration, this has included…
Blog
Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a December 2023 report titled “Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal…
News Release
Report: Federal Regulatory Agencies Abuse Power with Guidance Documents
A new report by Competitive Enterprise Institute and Paragon Health Institute scholar Dr. Joel Zinberg, Restoring Good Guidance Practices: How to restrain the administrative…
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