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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Blog
Regulatory Reform in the 118th Congress: Separation of Powers Restoration Act
The separation of powers is a key aspect of American government. To decentralize power and ensure checks and balances, the Founders divided the federal government…
City Journal
Roll It Back
Medicaid, the federal-state entitlement for the poor, now provides health insurance to more than one in four Americans. Enrollments surged after the Affordable Care Act…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
An Executive Order from the Biden administration made some of the biggest system-level regulatory changes in years. It raises the threshold for “economically significant”…
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RealClear Markets
Yes, Regulation Does Keep Unemployment High
When regulations make hiring employees more expensive, companies won't hire as many of them. It's a simple truth. But it is an inconvenient one…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Yet another batch of regulatory bloopers: Motorists entering Tacoma, Washington, with criminal intent are required to telephone the chief of police. It is illegal to…
Blog
Biotechnology’s 29th Anniversary!
Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s and Genentech’s Humulin, making it the first ever fully…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Sarbanes-Oxley
Full Document Available in PDF Now that the Senate has defeated the so-called American Jobs Bill, which…
RealClear Markets
2012 Candidates Target Costly Enron-Era Law Aimed at Thwarting Accounting Fraud
Blog
Beware of Asking FDA to Change Itself
Every five years, Congress must reauthorize a piece of legislation called the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which gives the…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
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Ryan Young
Senior Economist
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Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
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Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
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Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
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