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
Fox Business
Biden on Day 1 Scrapped Trump Rule that Helped US Save $160 Billion: Report
Fox Business cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulations and the Biden administration: But Clyde Wayne Crews, a vice president with the…

News Release
CEI Backs Sen. Johnson’s Call for President Biden to Re-Instate Transparency in Agency Guidance Executive Order
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and 20 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Biden, requesting he reverse his decision to overturn Executive Order 13,891,…
Las Vegas Review Journal
EDITORIAL: Regulatory benefits that are ‘impossible’ to quantify
The Las Vegas Review Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews and CEI’s “10 Thousand Commandments”: Needless to say, President Joe Biden and…
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Foreign Affairs
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Becerra Condemns Trump Administration Rule Undermining Cost-Saving Efficiency Standards for Residential Dishwashers
Foreign Affairs cite Competitive Enterprise Institute on dishwashers and regulatory policy. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today issued the following statement in response to the…
The Daily Signal
Cleaner Faster? Trump to Let Dishwashers Use More Water
The Daily Signal cites Competitive Enterprise Institute on dishwashers and regulatory policy. Dishwashers on average take about two and a half hours to wash a load…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a four-day week due to Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s Day—the controversy over which was just one of the things people were outraged…
Wall Street Journal
Democrats Assured ACA Would Come Before ACB
California and the House asked the Supreme Court to fast-track’s Texas’ challenge to the law. Democrats now claim they oppose Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation…
Blog
Forty Years of Freedom: Rail Deregulation Worked
Forty years ago today, President Carter signed the Staggers Act, which deregulated the American freight rail industry. As CEI has long maintained, this…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was another volatile pre-election week. A still-symptomatic President Trump returned to the White House from Walter Reed hospital during prime time. More key staffers…
Staff & Scholars

Clyde Wayne Crews
Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation

Ryan Young
Senior Fellow
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Sam Kazman
General Counsel
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance

Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment