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
Blog
The week in regulations: CAFE standards and Christmas tree promotions
Israel launched a military strike against Iran. US Senator Alex Padilla was detained for trying to ask a question at a Department of Homeland Security…
Blog
Congress should deregulate if it will not tackle entitlement spending
The Senate is currently reviewing the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill in an effort to have President Trump sign the bill into…
Blog
Your family’s share of federal red tape last year was…
Most people can see taxes on their pay stubs, but there’s another sort of tax that’s much less visible: the cost of government regulations. These…
Search Posts
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Parole Rules for Federal Prisoners
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Department of Justice ($26 billion 2009 budget, 112,000 employees). Parole rules for DC offenders and…
Newsletter
Clean Water, Banking Regulations and Air Quality
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marks up the “Clean Water Restoration Act.” President Obama announces major new controls on the…
Blog
Obama Seeks to Mandate More Risky, Low-Income Loans by Banks, in New Financial Rules
The President has just announced proposals for a major overhaul of the financial system. The proposals would force banks to make even…
Blog
HHS Secretary: Health Insurance Industry Needs Competition… With Government
In an AP interview on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called for competition in the health insurance market. No, not between…
Blog
Wasteful Regulation
The issue of “e-waste” has been receiving a lot of attention recently, mostly from critics concerned about discarded electronics being shipped off to developing…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Clean Air in Columbus, OH
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the EPA. One would think that regulators, seeing heartening results, would pat themselves on the back…
Blog
Obama’s Speech to AMA on Healthcare Misses the Point
In a speech before the American Medical Association on Monday, June 15, President Obama pitched his plan for heathcare reform. The main thrust of the…
Op-Eds
Obama Administration = Waste, Corruption, Corporate Welfare
Rapidly-rising Medicare spending already threatens “to crush the federal budget,” and much Medicare spending is wasteful, yet the Obama Administration claims it…
Op-Eds
Retirees and Pensions Fuel GM’s Downfall
General Motors has declared bankruptcy as a result of a number of things — bad management, poor products and screwy labor relations. But in…
Blog
Senate Passes FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill; Obama Will Sign It
The Senate has just passed the FDA tobacco regulation bill by a 79-to-17 vote. The bill now goes to President Obama, who has…
Blog
Barney Frank Asked about Executive Pay Curbs; Throws Tantrum
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) appears to be working in tandem with the Obama administration on making executive pay subject to shareholder votes. That seems…
Blog
Steve Forbes celebrates CEI’s 25th year
Steve Forbes in the Washington Times today has a very nice tribute to CEI on its 25th Anniversary. Forbes points out some of CEI’s…
Blog
FDA Poised to Regulate Tobacco, Which May Backfire
Congress is about to enact a bill to subject tobacco to FDA regulation. Mark Berlind notes one anomalous feature of the bill: it…
Blog
Eleventh Circuit Grants Rehearing in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Which Gutted Statutory Limits on Sexual Harassment Claims
Can you sue your employer because your co-workers listen to raunchy radio programs? A federal appeals court is reconsidering its 2008 ruling…
Blog
Public Wants Wasteful Stimulus Package Canceled
By a margin of 45% to 36%, the American people want to cancel the $787 billion stimulus package, reports pollster Rasmussen Reports. Economist…
Newsletter
Broadband Stimulus, Fiat Takes Over Chrysler and the UN’s World Oceans Day
Business and advocacy groups flood the Federal Communications Commission with comments on the agency’s proposed national broadband plan. Italian automaker Fiat…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Saving the Children
On June 26, the National Commission on Children and Disasters is having a meeting. They will be talking about another meeting from the day before.
Blog
Supreme Court Vacates Stay Order in Chrysler Case, Refuses to Rule on Legal Challenges At This Time
The full Supreme Court just vacated the stay that Justice Ginsburg earlier entered that had temporarily blocked the government’s plan for Chrysler. Why it…
Blog
Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Illegal Chrysler Giveaway to UAW
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday granted a stay temporarily blocking the government’s plan for Chrysler, which would give effectively give most of…
News Release
CEI to FCC: Don’t Strangle Broadband Industry
The Competitive Enterprise Institute this week filed comments advising the Federal Communications Commission on how best to proceed with its plan for a national…
News Release
Bank Chairman to Speak Out on Banking Crisis and Capitalism at CEI 25th Anniversary Gala
This Thursday evening John Allison, Chairman of BB&T Bank, will deliver the keynote address at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 25th Anniversary Gala. Allison will…
Blog
Stimulus Package Kills Jobs, Drives Up Unemployment
Unemployment is now even higher than the Obama Administration said it would be if there were no stimulus package. At least 1.5 million…
Blog
Illegal Takeover of Chrysler: Pension Funds Have Standing in Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler, LLC
Earlier, I wrote about the Indiana pension funds’ challenge to the Obama Administration’s plan to effectively give Chrysler to the UAW Union, while cheating…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Drawbridge Schedules in Sturgeon Bay, WI
Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Department of Homeland Security (208,000 employees, $52 billion 2009 budget).
Newsletter
Chrysler in Court, the Costs of Regulation and a Global Tax on Airline Travel
A federal appeals court refuses to block Chrysler’s bankruptcy reorganization and sale to Fiat. A new study finds that compliance costs for federal regulation reached…
Washington Examiner
To Stimulate the Economy, Let it be Free
Lobbying is about the only sector of the economy experiencing a boom right now. This is a predictable effect of the tax-and-spend stimulus model favored…
Blog
Court Rebuffs Challenge to Illegal Chrysler Bailout and Takeover; Pension Funds Will Appeal to Supreme Court
A federal appeals court has refused to block the Administration’s illegal auto bailout, which rips off taxpayers and pension funds to enrich…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: Taxpayer-Funded Advertising for Mushrooms
This is the first installment of an occasional series that shines a little light on what the regulatory state is up to. Today’s Regulation of…
Newsletter
Windmills in Danger, Record Unemployment and Hurricane Season
A wind power development in Wyoming may be derailed by the Endangered Species Act. The unemployment rate rises to 9.4%. Residents in the southeastern U.S.
News Release
New CEI Report Explores Hurricanes, Warming
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute questions alarmist predictions of increased hurricane damage resulting from human-caused global warming. The report recommends that…
Blog
Illegal, Unfair Auto Bailout That Harms Retirees and Taxpayers Challenged in Chrysler Bankruptcy
The Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund is rightly challenging the diversion of tens of billions of dollars of federal TARP bank bailout money to…
Newsletter
The Costs of Regulation, Chrysler’s Bankruptcy and Teamsters on Strike
A new report from CEI finds that the annual cost of federal regulation is more than $1.1 trillion. A federal judge halts Chrysler’s planned bankruptcy…
Blog
Union Keeps Special Privileges Through Taxpayer Bailout of General Motors
The federal government is spending more than $50 billion to bail out General Motors, with no end in sight. But the UAW union…
News Release
Crushing, Hidden Tax of Federal Regulation Soars
Crushing, Hidden Tax of Federal Regulation Soars Lawmakers Fail to Scrutinize the "10,000 Commandments" of Federal Regulations Washington, D.C. June 3, 2009 – Federal…
Blog
How to Stop Another GM: Abolish Pensions
GM, of course, declared bankruptcy today. A number of things—bad management, poor products and screwy labor relations—hurt the company. But in the…
Blog
Corporate Welfare on a Vast Scale: Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Scam Threatens Economy
One of Obama’s own advisers admits that the cap-and-trade energy-rationing scheme backed by the “Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats” would “have a trivially small…
Washington Examiner
Congress Gets Flurry Of Insurance Bills
Washington Examiner
Permanent Replacement for Dinallo Likely Months Away
Blog
Wasteful Obama Auto Bailouts Disturb Even Liberal Washington Post
Even the liberal Washington Post, which endorsed Obama and has not backed a Republican for president since 1952, is getting fed up with the…
Blog
Anti-GMO Zealots vs. Starving Zimbabweans
In Zimbabwe, the most food aid-dependent country in the world, officials and self-styled “consumer activists” have begun raiding shops suspected of selling genetically-modified food,…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2009
Wayne Crews' annual accounting of the hidden taxes of regulation.
Investors' Business Daily
America’s Hidden Trillion-Dollar Tax
We need a breather to take it all in: TARP, a $787 billion stimulus bill and a projected $1.845 trillion budget deficit. But lost among…
Blog
Compare and Contrast
Bjorn Lomborg, November 2007: …although it may seem almost comically straightforward, one of the best temperature-reducing approaches is very simple: paint things white. Cities…
Newsletter
The Credit Card Bill of Rights, Chrysler’s Bankruptcy and Carbon Trading
President Obama signs the credit card “bill of rights” into law. A federal bankruptcy judge prepares to rule on Chrysler’s financial future. Carbon trading is…
Blog
A Bleak Regulatory Future for the Tech Sector
May so far has been full of omens for the future of technology regulation. On Monday the 11th, the Obama administration announced that it would…
Blog
Divorce Courts Harass Our Troops and Small Businesses
Memorial Day is an opportunity to thank our troops, and open our eyes to the disgraceful way they are treated by divorce courts. The bias…
Blog
Chrysler Confronts Grim Future, Despite Billions in Taxpayer Subsidies
The federal government poured billions of dollars into Chrysler, which then went bankrupt and merged with Fiat. But Chrysler may never revive, thanks to absurdly…
Blog
Fulfilling Prophecies
CBO estimated today that unemployment will top out at around 10.5% before it recovers. Congress is doing its part to make CBO’s dire prophecy a…
Investors' Business Daily
Supreme Court To Hear Sarbanes-Oxley Challenge
A major government abuse of power is about to get much-needed scrutiny, thanks to the Supreme Court, which this week decided to hear…
Blog
Victory for Capitalism in World’s Largest Democracy
India’s Congress Party was responsible for many mistakes when it turned India into a corrupt socialist state in the 1960s and 70s, but it changed…
Blog
Adviser Admits Obama’s Tax Increases May Kill Economic Recovery
Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, warns that “the barrage of tax increases proposed in President Barack Obama’s budget could . . . kill any chance of…
Blog
Law Professors Urge Supreme Court to Review Challenge to Powerful Agency, in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will weigh whether to decide what a federal judge called the “the most important separation-of-powers case regarding the President’s appointment…
Newsletter
Europe Investigates Intel, Obama Explodes the Deficit and Minnesota Jumps on the Banned Wagon
European antitrust officials prepare to rule in an investigation of Intel’s microchip marketing practices. The White House estimates that the deficit will explode to $1.8…
Newsletter
Chrysler’s Bankruptcy, Small Businesses Fight Back and New York’s War on Bottled Water
Financial analysts size up what Chrysler’s entrance into Chapter 11 bankruptcy means for customers and employees. Small business owners band together to oppose new union…
Newsletter
The War on Cockroaches, Consumer Credit Shrinks and the Future of Internet Gambling
New York State officials move to limit sale of anti-insect “bug bombs” to consumers. Economists chart a record drop in consumer credit. Rep. Barney Frank…
Blog
Another Postage Hike on Monday
Postage rates will go up on Monday. Thanks to the forever stamp, most of us won’t have to bother with those infernal 2-cent stamps this…
Blog
Cockroaches Win
If New York regulators get their way, the only other option will be for people to hire an exterminator. So basically, if your income is…
Newsletter
Cap and Trade Compromise, the Return of Bed Bugs and Jack Kemp, RIP
The White House floats the idea of allowing new oil and gas drilling in exchange for support of a cap and trade system for greenhouse…
Blog
Obama’s pending cybersecurity overhaul should heed the “Cybersecurity Commandment”…
Not many details have appeared, but the Atlantic reports on a speech given by the administration’s Melissa Hathaway in McLean, VA: In her speech,…
Newsletter
Consumer Credit, Social Security and Swine Flu
The House of Representatives votes to limit credit card fees and interest rates. President Obama endorses raising Social Security taxes. Vice President Biden advises Americans…
Blog
Fix Social Security; Unleash Capital
In RealClearMarkets.com, Fred Smith and I explain how the seemingly forgotten — but still important — goal of Social Security reform can help unleash capital,…
News Release
CEI Comment on Obama 100 Days
Obama Bombs on Spending, Energy in First100 Days, Hope for Progress on Regulations, Credit Crisis CEI Comments on Obama 100 Days and What’s Ahead…
Financial Times
Fed’s policies contradict each other
Sir, Henry Kaufman frets that “libertarian dogma led the Fed astray” (April 28). Congress, not free-market ideology, is the real culprit. One reason…
Blog
Well @#$%&, Supreme Court Upholds Ban on “Expleetive Deleetives.”
In FCC v. Fox today, the Supreme Court upheld regulation of “fleeting expletives” on broadcast television. What should be “fleeting” is the nearly century old…
Financial Times
Dodd to revise CARD proposal
Blog
When Government Spending Gets Really Obscene
My good friend and Bureaucrash ally Xaq Fixx recently altered me to an interesting story on the intersection of politics, technology and free…
Blog
General Growth Properties (GGP) — Bankruptcy the way it ought to be
On the surface, given the economic turmoil we’ve had, there was nothing that remarkable about the bankruptcy of shopping mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).
Blog
Obama credit card meeting — should meet with economists instead
Instead of meeting with the executives of credit card issuers and sactimoniously lecturing them about not raising rates, as he is doing…
Blog
Mortgage Executive Kills Himself, After Obama Makes Mortgage Giant Freddie Mac Lose Money to Bail Out Irresponsible Borrowers
The chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac committed suicide today in his basement. The Obama Administration forced Freddie Mac to run up…
Blog
People Make Earth Day Better
This year, we at the Competitive Enterprise Institute are suggesting that those who will be celebrating Earth Day remember the challenges presented by living in…
Blog
Does Anyone Understand The Internet?
I’m beginning to think “no” is the definitive answer. While most tend to understand the basic concepts of Internet connectivity and its associated parts, it…
Blog
The “Small Business” Exemption Distortion
Many of the federal regulatory and tax laws include a “small business exemption” – politicians displaying an aversion to crippling a…
Newsletter
Bailout Power Grab, Abuse of Power in New York and Rising Sea Level Panic
White House economic advisers plan to convert government holdings in bailed out banks to common stock, increasing direct government control. New York State insurance chief…
Blog
Nationalizing the Banks? Stock Conversion May Backfire
The Obama Administration wants to convert the preferred shares the government got from banks in the bank bailout into common shares. In theory, it…
Newsletter
Hemispheric Diplomacy, Greenhouse Gases and Anti-Tax Protests
President Obama attends the Summit of the Americas with other leaders from North and South America. The Environmental Protection Agency declares greenhouse gases to be…
Newsletter
CO2, Microsoft’s Antitrust Overseers and Anti-Tax Activists
The Environmental Protection Agency prepares to release a document that could require the federal government to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide. The Justice Department extends…
Newsletter
Anti-Tax Tea Parties, College Quotas and Job-Killing Regulations
People across the nation rally to oppose high taxes and government spending in the spirit of the original Boston Tea Party. President Obama’s apparent support…
Blog
We Wouldn’t Have Teaparties If It Wasn’t For Rentseeking
Those who say we tried the free market and it failed should research the history of the Boston Tea Party a little. We didn’t even…
Newsletter
Tax Day Protests, Small Car Safety and Union Organizing
People across the country gather to protest high taxes and excessive government spending. A new crash test study finds that smaller cars are especially vulnerable…
Blog
A National Anthem for April 15
As Tea Parties brew across the land today, I’m reminded of the infamous “Tax Poem” chain email, or, spam, if you like. Set to music…
Financial Times
1,000,000 Tea Bags Find a Home
After park officials turned away Tea Party protesters' 1 million tea bags, the press conference was moved to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We were happy…
Newsletter
Justice Ginsburg’s Inconsistency, the Continuing Pirate Threat and Tax Day Tea Parties
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg defends the use of foreign legal codes in deciding U.S. Supreme Court verdicts. Somali pirates renew their attacks, seizing four new…
News Release
April 15th Tax Burden Worsened by Hidden Taxes
April 15th Tax Burden Worsened by Hidden Taxes Americans Hit by Excessive Federal Regulations, Threatened by New Energy Rationing Washington, D.C., April 14,…
Blog
Broadband Stimulus Plan: Spend First, Ask Questions Later
There has been some noise in technology circles the last week over the FCC comment period or Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in regards to the…
Blog
Don’t Change Interchange
Overstock.com President Jonathan E. Johnson recently penned an op-ed that appeared in The Washington Times last week in which he argued for government regulation…
Financial Times
Deregulate to Stimulate
Few Americans are aware of the massive scope of the federal regulatory enterprise. It is hardly common knowledge that 4,004 rules from nearly 70…
Blog
Federal Budget Deficit Skyrockets; $163,000 More in Taxes
“The budget deficit increased by $192.3 billion in March, and is near $1 trillion just halfway through the budget year.” It’s going to…
Blog
Jack Dreyfus, FDA Reform Pioneer
My colleague John Berlau wrote a nice obituary of mutual fund pioneer Jack Dreyfus that was published in Investor’s Business Daily earlier this week.
Newsletter
Banning Bottled Water, Remembering Jack Dreyfus and Greenhouse Gas Legislation
Activists campaign for college campuses to ban sales of bottled water. Legendary investor Jack Dreyfus passes away at age 95. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and…
Blog
Trojan Horse “Food Safety” Law
A misguided bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, may shut down farmer’s markets and “drive out of business local farmers and artisanal,…
Letters
Letter to Senators Dodd and Shelby, and Congressmen Frank and Bachus regarding National Regulatory Modernization
Full Document Available in PDF This letter written to Senators Dodd and Shelby, and…
Blog
Baptist-Bootlegger Alliance on Tobacco
In today’s Washington Examiner, Tim Carney has an excellent column on how the bill to place tobacco under FDA regulation would reduce competition in…
Financial Times
Government’s Mistakes Have Deepened This Recession
Steven Gjerstad and Vernon Smith suggest one unexplored aspect of our financial crisis: the role of egalitarian policies. To see this, note…
Blog
Rise of the Luddites
When it comes to things such as environmental policy, the Progressives have been rather successful at promoting their world view. They realized that it would…
Blog
A Bounty on Your 401(K)
The Obama Administration’s mortgage bailout for irresponsible borrowers (including wealthy borrowers with modest mortgage payments) provides a bounty for reckless sub-prime mortgage lenders…
Blog
That G20 Communique
Yesterday’s communiqué from the leaders of the G20 – a motley collection of democracies and dictatorships – has some good points, but in general…
Newsletter
G20 Stimulus, A Plan for Carbon Dioxide and Mark-to-Market Reforms
World leaders pledge to spend an additional $1 trillion to stimulate the global economy. Global warming activists call for policies to lower the concentration of…
Financial Times
The Five Dumbest Product Bans, 2009
Financial Times
Lawmakers told to overhaul property insurance: A coalition pushes for reform to help prevent economic disaster.
Financial Times
Legislature aims to overhaul property insurance system
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