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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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…
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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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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 23, 2011
Alabama: After passing through the state Senate and House, Tuscaloosa voters approved a bill that legalizes Sunday sales of alcohol within…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Amazon Rolls Out Instant Streaming for ‘Prime’ Members: “Amazon.com (AMZN: 180.45, 0.00, 0.00%) on Tuesday announced its highly-rumored video-streaming service for customers subscribing…
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No, Wisconsin’s Budget Deficit Wasn’t “Manufactured” by Walker and the GOP
Wisconsin is one of the most heavily taxed states in the country, and its government employees are paid much better than the state’s…
Op-Eds
$240 billion tobacco deal challenged in Supreme Court
Back in 1998, the states settled their lawsuits against the big tobacco companies in something called the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement – the biggest legal…
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Egyptian Military Seeks to Reverse Economic Reforms
The military government that replaced Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak is now moving to reverse recent reforms that gave Egypt solid economic growth in the last several…
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Remembering Jack Calfee
The sad news of Jack Calfee’s death came out of the blue yesterday morning. I first met Jack about two decades…
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