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…
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American Spectator
The Regulatory Path to Full Employment
Who will regulate the regulators who regulate the regulators? An important new book about the financial crisis just came out: Guardians of Finance: Making Regulators…
Blog
Obamacare Costs More Than Twice As Much As Obama Claimed; Stimulus Creates Debt, Not Jobs
As Daniel Foster notes, “When it was being debated, Democrats told you ACA [Obamacare] would cost $940 billion over ten years . . .
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: March 13, 2012
Apparently, "March Madness" has stricken our state legislators who are in high gear introducing and considering proposed alcohol laws. There's so much going on, in…
Blog
IRS Sued for Unfair Labor Practices
A new IRS proposal to require licensing all tax preparers would put a lot of people out of work. So the Institute for Justice is…
Blog
School Choice Can Temper Climate Curriculum Dogma
John Stuart Mill once wrote, “There is the greatest difference between presuming an opinion to be true, because, with every opportunity for contesting it, it…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
64 new final rules were published last week, down from 89 the previous week.
American Spectator
Come, Sweet Debt: Civilizational Reset on the Horizon
From the presidential inaugurations of George Washington to George W. Bush, our federal government accrued a debt of more than $5 trillion. Thanks to the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 8, 2012: IRS Moves to Fund Foreign Dictators
A new IRS regulation hits the trifecta of enriching foreign dictators, helping them crush dissent, and would raise no revenue for the U.S. government. Vice…
Blog
JOBS Act would Create More than 10 million Jobs
At long last, some truth in advertising in Congress! Today, the U.S. House of Representative is poised to pass a bipartisan "jobs bill" that will…
One News Show
Costly Regulations
From Chris Woodward's column on OneNewsNow: With already 600 new regulations in 2012, a fellow in regulatory studies says the United States continues…
Blog
Science Washes Hype about “Toxic” Shampoo Down the Drain
Every now and then, government regulators manage to do something reasonable. Last week, the Canadians made a smart move by accepting hard science over hype…
Blog
Ma Bell Is Long Gone, but Her Pension Costs Remain
AT&T is asking the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents a large segment of its workforce, for benefit concessions, as it tries to rein…
RealClear Policy
Bill Clinton’s Too Spiteful to Help Govern
Bill Clinton, Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy Alfred A. Knopf (New York), 2011, 208 pages, $23.95 Reviewed by…
Blog
Corporate Welfare for Farmers
In a recent blog post, I describe the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) Beef Promotion and Research "checkoff" program as corporate welfare. The agency’s Public…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Just another week in the world of regulation:…
Blog
Obamacare: Anyone Have a Plan B?
In just a few week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the legal challenges to the administration's controversial health-care overhaul, especially the constitutionality of the so-called "individual mandate" that requires every American to purchase government-approved insurance. The…
RealClear Policy
Stop the Regulation!
From Mike Whalen’s op-ed on The Huffington Post: Unfortunately, when it comes to our current government and regulation, the reality is that where…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 27, 2012
National: A Sioux tribe in South Dakota has filed a landmark suit against national beer makers for knowingly contributing the tribe's alcohol…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It may have been a short work week, but it was still a busy one in the world of regulation. Here are the highlights:…
Daily Caller
Dem. Governor Claims Fewer Regulations Under Obama Than Under Bush
From Neil Monro's article in The Daily Caller: In his 2012…
Blog
Airline Carbon Taxes: The EU vs. the World
On Tuesday and Wednesday, representatives from 23 nations gathered in Moscow to discuss their response to the European Union’s mandatory airline carbon taxes. CEI’s Fran…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 212: Locating Your Newsstand
New York City requires newsstands to be located at least 9 feet, 6 inches away from buildings. Marilyn Louie's newsstand has sat in the same…
Daily Caller
How the Dodd-Frank Act Harms the U.S. Energy Industry
From Pete Sepp’s op-ed in U.S. News & World Report:…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 211: The Color of Buildings
Officials in Calcutta, India definitely have a favorite color: sky blue.
Daily Caller
Simplicity is Beautiful: How to Build a Democracy
The Arab Spring is over a year old now. It’s too early to tell if that movement will bring liberal democracy to countries that badly…
Blog
Taxmageddon Comes Just After the Election
On December 31, shortly after the November election, tax rates will rise across the board in what congressional aides call "Taxmageddon," notes The Washington Post. Not…
Blog
The STOCK Act: A Response to Professor Bainbridge
Professor Stephen Bainbridge recently responded to a National Review Online article by my colleagues John Berlau and David Bier in which they argue…
Blog
The Economist: Too Much Regulation
Sounds like writers for ?The Economist? have been reading some of CEI's regulatory research. From this week's magazine:…
Washington Times
No Master Lock on Job Creation
From Anneke Green's column in The Washington Times: The Obama administration’s favoritism for cronies is another drag on the business climate, such as…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 16, 2012: Washington’s Prescription Drug Shortage
Patients are suffering from a nationwide shortage of more than 260 different prescription drugs, many of them for different types of cancer. Senior Fellow Greg…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 210: Transgendered Air Travelers
Canada is cracking down on the latest terrorist threat to innocent people everywhere: transgendered people. If their appearance doesn't match their ID's listed gender, they're…
Blog
Congress Seems Intent on Making Drug Shortages Worse
Now that the problem of prescription drug shortages has begun to affect children, members of Congress want to be seen as…
Blog
Regulation, Jobs, and Creating Wealth
Lobbying, politicking, and special favors are part and parcel of the regulatory process. The result is that many regulation-created jobs are not created on the…
Blog
Lame Duck Sen. Herb Kohl Continues Quixotic Battle Against Rail Carriers in Senate Highway Bill
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), who will not be seeking reelection this November, decided that he would make one last-ditch attempt to get his awful piece…
Blog
Misconceptions about the Obama Administration’s Contraception Mandate for Religious Employers
There are a number of misconceptions about the Obama administration’s recent rule requiring employers’ health insurance policies (including those of religious schools and hospitals) to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 209: Playing on the Beach
A recent Los Angeles County ordinance made it illegal to throw balls and even Frisbees on the city’s beaches.
Blog
Global Biotech Crop Acreage Up, Plus Clayton Yeutter on the Miracle of American Agriculture
Global planting of biotech crops grew 8 percent last year, to a record high of 395 million total acres, according to…
Blog
Government Thwarts Cancer Cures and Production of Life-Saving Drugs
The federal government thwarted a promising cancer treatment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski on trial twice, saying “it did…
Washington Times
How to Swap the Obama Budget for an Optimistic Economic Growth Agenda
New spending in President Obama’s $3.8 trillion fiscal year 2013 budget would increase investments in education, manufacturing and R&D, transportation projects, electric vehicle incentives and…
Blog
The STOCK Act’s Muzzle and How to Fix it in Conference (Update)
My colleagues David Bier and Ryan Radia contributed to this post. Per the scenario in a previous post, it’s April 2012. You are a…
Blog
Good News/Bad News On Human Spaceflight Regulation
In a bill passed last week authorizing the Federal Aviation Administration for another year, the moratorium on regulation of the safety of spaceflight participants, in…
Washington Times
The Burden of Federal Rules: Our Other Trillion Dollar Debt
During the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama ridiculed regulations like one designating spilled milk an “oil,” and exclaimed, “In fact, I’ve approved…
Blog
Utah Doubles Down on Gambling Prohibition
It’s not news that regulators in Utah are often uncomfortable allowing residents to make their own decisions about how, when, or if they engage…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 2, 2012: The FDA’s Latest Power Grab
Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton breaks down the FDA's behind-the-scenes push to regulate dietary supplements nearly as strictly as prescription drugs.
Blog
Facebook Filing Blasts Obama-Bush Overregulation of Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank
In his letter to prospective shareholders in the middle of the 201-page "Form S-1" that Facebook filed yesterday afternoon to launch its much-anticipated initial…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 208: Re-Booking Flights
A new Department of Transportation regulation limiting re-booking fees caused one airline to add a $2 "Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee" on every ticket…
Blog
12 More Law Schools Sued for Defrauding Their Students; Many More Class-Action Lawsuits Expected
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a team of eight law firms have just “sued a dozen more law schools across the country,…
Washington Times
The President’s Dangerous Grannynomics
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Alcohol Regulation Roundup: January 30, 2012
In national news: Congressman Kurt Schrader of Oregon announced last week that he is withdrawing his support of the CARE Act, the piece of…
Blog
Justice Kagan Should Recuse Herself from Obamacare Case
Only in Bizarro World can you claim someone is your attorney -- and thus shielded by attorney work-product privilege -- and then insist in the…
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