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: Bird hunting and food coloring
The Federal Register’s website became less transparent about rule counts and other data. President Trump threatened to send the military into a third city. The…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Subsidies for billionaires with David McGarry
In this week’s episode we cover White House intervention in corporate ownership, the nation’s falling economic freedom ranking, and welcome new…
News Release
Federal appeals court rules on NLRB unconstitutionality
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals today issued a ruling suggesting the structure of the federal government’s top labor dispute regulator, the National Labor Relations…
Search Posts
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Meet the Android Malware That Sucks Your Bandwidth: “Mobile malware is still a fringe development, but it’s not inconceivable that you’d run…
Daily Caller
Bad Publicity, Good Results
Turns out there is such a thing as bad publicity. School districts across Wisconsin have closed because of the number of teachers calling in…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 17, 2011: Let the Best Bulb Win
Brian McGraw, a Policy Analyst for CEI's Center for Energy & Environment, talks about the coming incandescent light bulb ban, who it benefits (bulb manufacturers),…
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Hours of Service
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: ‘Watson’ the computer creams human ‘Jeopardy!’ champs: “An IBM computer creamed two human champions on the television game show “Jeopardy!” today in…
News Release
Dodd-Frank Debit Price Controls Condemned by Michigan Legislature, Coalition Letter
Washington, D.C., February 17, 2011 – Today, the House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing on Dodd-Frank’s Durbin Amendment, which puts below-cost price…
Blog
Defending the Incandescent Light Bulb
Jim DiPeso, writing at The Daily Green, does not care much for Freedom Action’s campaign to overturn the impending ban on…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Computer crushes the competition on ‘Jeopardy!’: “The computer outsmarted its human competition in Game 1 of the Man vs. Machine competition on…
Washington Examiner
Sen. Toomey Demands Spending Reform Instead of Debt Ceiling Hike
At Heritage, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., promises not to consider raising the debt ceiling until Congress reforms America’s “unsustainable” spending habits. Toomey’s slim…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google Launches Site-Blocking Extension Against Content Farms: “Aimed at stripping search results of pages from “low-quality” sites, a new Google Chrome extension…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 165: Singing in Public
It is against the law to sing in public in Anderson, South Carolina. But the ban could be lifted as soon as today.
Blog
Michigan May Fire Salvo Against Regressive Debit Card Price Controls
In the battle against Obamacare, the shots heard ’round the world were resolutions against the law by state legislatures. These resolutions led to court cases that…
Blog
Hold the Sizzle: Chipotle, Immigrant Employees Get ICE’d
Chipotle boasts that it offers “food with integrity,” but the popular restaurant chain may want to consider an addendum in light of its recent actions:…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: FTC Warns About Public Wi-Fi Hotspot Dangers: “The OnGuardOnline.gov website, operated by the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Homeland Security, Commerce Department…
Washington Examiner
TSA Union Power Grab
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for taxpayers and airport travelers – but a good one for government employee unions. As if the…
News Release
Obama Budget Fails On Regulatory Reform
Washington, D.C., February 14, 2011 — President Barack Obama has submitted a $3.73 trillion spending budget blueprint for fiscal 2012, blowing well past President George…
Orange County Register
Deceptive Obama Budget Still Bloated
The Orange Country Register discusses President Obama's deceptive budget with Iain Murray. "The president is pulling a fast one on the public when he…
Blog
The Pitfalls of Unionizing the TSA
Robert Verbruggen wrote recently about the downside of unionizing the TSA in the National Review, taking issue with the Obama Administration’s decision to allow the…
Blog
PolitiFact: Obama Made False Claims About Health Care, Taxes, and Court Rulings
PolitiFact, which earlier took Obama’s side about whether Obamacare is a government takeover of health care, now is criticizing President Obama for making…
NCPA
Regulation without Representation
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 10, 2011: How Not to Stop Eminent Domain Abuse
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner takes a close look at an eminent domain reform bill just passed by the Texas State Senate.
Blog
Put Regulations on a Life-Cycle Budget
Reading through the headlines, the top economic stories are about scrutiny of regulation and spending proposals regarding the federal budget. But the similarities and differences…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 10, 2011
Massachusetts: State Representative Alice Peisch filed legislation this week (HD 2759), which would amend the state’s outdated laws from the 1970s that make it…
Creators
A Killer Agency
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: February 9, 2011
Connecticut: Two days after Super Bowl Sunday, Connecticut lawmakers held a hearing on one of the most contentious issues this session:…
Blog
Regulation without Representation
Congress never actually votes on most regulations. As Wayne Crews and I explain in today's Investor's Business Daily, this is regulation without representation.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: 1Gbps Wi-Fi Soon Coming To a Billion Devices: “Not only is 1Gbps heading for your Wi-Fi network by next year, it will…
Creators
Freddie, Fannie May Be Finished, But What Comes Next?
Blog
Common Sense: Making Union Officials Help Union Members
Recently, there have been numerous protests about Republican legislation that it is supposedly anti-union and limiting the rights of workers. I don’t buy it. Let…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 164: Panhandling
If Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett gets his way, panhandlers will need a government permit to ask people for money if they’re near a road.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: China building a city for cloud computing: “China is building a city-sized cloud computing and office complex that will include a mega…
Creators
Regulation Destabilization: Time For Reform, Washington
On Feb. 14, President Obama will release his fiscal budget. It’ll be big. But even that alternate universe tells only part of the story of…
Lew Rockwell
A Killer Agency
News Release
REINS Act, Regulatory Reform Will Foster Deep-Rooted Economic Recovery
Washington, D.C., February 8, 2011 – This week is good news for those who have advocated regulatory reform as a means of boosting the economy.
Investors' Business Daily
Regulation Without Representation
Regulatory agencies enact more than 3,500 new regulations in an average year. A new federal rule hits the books roughly every two hours, 24…
Blog
FDIC’s Pay Caps Will Keep Businesses on “Sidelines”
At 11:30, in a much-anticipated speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama used Super Bowl analogies to urge American businesses to “get off the…
Blog
Another TSA Nightmare
The writer Andrew Ian Dodge shares his painful experience at the hands of the TSA at this link. The TSA inflicted prolonged pain on…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Internet is easy prey for governments: “For all that the revolution in Egypt tells us about the power of…
International Liberty
The Federal Bureaucracy: Even More Bloated When You Count the “Shadow” Workforce
International Liberty references Iain Murray's Nationa Review article to discuss the size of the federal workforce. Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
TSA Given Approval To Unionize
As the New York Times says, this is a debate that has been brewing for potentially a decade: the “right” for Transportation Security Administration…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 163: Switchblades
Maine state representative Sheryl Briggs would like to end her state’s switchblade ban – but only for people with one arm.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: A Shortage of Power in Data Centers?: “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, right? If you’ve ever experienced a…
Blog
Ruling Striking Down Health Care Law Was Not “Judicial Activism”
On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down Obamacare as unconstitutional. Judge Vinson concluded that the law’s cornerstone — a requirement that…
Blog
Senate Repeals Obamacare’s 1099 Mandate — OTC Drug Rules Should be Next
Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare —…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: News Corp. Launches Digital Daily: “News Corp. on Wednesday unveiled The Daily, a tablet newspaper that Chairman Rupert Murdoch described as “the…
International Liberty
Leviathan
How many Americans work in government? That’s a difficult question to answer. Officially, as of 2009, the federal government employed 2.8 million individuals out of…
Blog
Thomas Sowell on the Value of Consumer Choice
One of Thomas Sowell’s greatest insights is that in public policy, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. That extends to deciding what to spend money…
Blog
Suspend Obamacare’s 1099 and OTC Drug Rules Pending Supreme Court Action
Monday’s decision by Florida federal judge Roger Vinson striking down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in its…
Blog
The GOP and the Health Insurance Mandate
With the health insurance individual purchase mandate looking more vulnerable than ever, Democrats are trying desperately to get some mileage out…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google accuses Microsoft on search data: “Google has accused arch-rival Microsoft of plagiarising its internet search results in an attempt to narrow…
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