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: FAA ethics and Postal Service justice
Social Security will go bust in 2033. War with Iran is a real possibility. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, as expected. It is…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: The Reagan legacy in the 21st century with Dan Rothschild
In this week’s episode we cover FreedomFest 2025, the FDA’s war on effective sunblock, good news about critical minerals, and Walmart’s…
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…
Search Posts
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In a remarkable human achievement, scientists took the first-ever image of a black hole. The effort took eight telescopes on five continents, five petabytes of…
News Release
OMB Guidance on Major Rules & Regulatory Dark Matter is a Real Step Toward Stopping Regulatory Abuses
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) yesterday released new guidance re-asserting the requirement that agencies submit major notice-and-comment rules and certain major sub-regulatory guidance…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The news cycle was more sizzle than steak last week. President Trump threatened to shut down the southern border and backed off almost immediately, so…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Pundits spent the week engaging in mortal combat over the Mueller Report, which none of them have read, and spring officially sprung with baseball’s opening…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
As tempers flared over how many “chuggas” to say before “choo-choo,” the 2019 Federal Register topped the 10,000-page mark last week and the number of…
Blog
Regulation and Neglected Costs of Authoritarianism and Over-Criminalization
Corrupt government and authoritarianism have been the historical rule rather than the exception. The U.S. Constitution’s elevation of individual rights and restraints on governmental power…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Trump has declared passing the new NAFTA/USMCA as his top legislative priority, but congressional ratification will not be automatic. Mexico and Canada are also…
Blog
Regulatory Costs of Delegating Lawmaking Power to Executive and Unelected Administrators
The administrative state, blessed by Congress, has dispensed with the Founders’ system of legislation fashioned solely by an elected body. Regulatory reforms call for holding…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week was low-drama by recent standards, but still had some important developments. The U.S. trade deficit set a record for the second year in…
Forbes
Warning Signs: How Trump’s Ascendant Regulatory Impulses Could Swamp His Deregulatory Program
President Donald Trump has pruned rules and costs and held down regulatory output with more enthusiasm than other presidents. But on the flipside of Trump’s controversial regulatory savings, Trump sports regulatory…
Blog
The Regulatory Costs of Abandoned Federalism
The deterioration of the principle of separation of powers is a signature feature of the powerful federal Administrative State. This corrosion is accompanied by a…
The Hill
Congressional Review Act Rises Again!
The Hill cited Vice President for Policy and a Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on regulatory dark matter. This problem increases considerably when you…
The Cato Institute
Bloomberg Unwittingly Vindicates Stigler
The Cato Institute cited Vice President for Policy and a Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on the Trump administration and regulatory reform. Thankfully, we…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Michael Cohen hearing shenanigans gobbled up the headlines, but actual substantive news happened regarding talks with China and North Korea—in particular, a planned tariff…
The Daily Signal
VIDEO: Hope for an Overregulated Nation
Senior Fellow Wayne Crews joined “The Bill Walton Show” on the Daily Signal to explain how to return the U.S. to the path of greater…
Blog
Costs of Regulatory Takings and Property Value Destruction
Takings issues noted here are just the beginning of government neglect of the institution of private property, notable especially in emergent sectors. But the disdain…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The federal government was on a four-day work week in honor of George Washington’s birthday, but agencies still found time to issue regulations ranging from…
Blog
VIDEO: You’ve Come a Long Way, Regulatory Reform
Our friends at the American Enterprise Institute are doing a great job leveraging their many decades of experience in Washington, D.C. They've been raiding their…
Blog
Regulatory Costs and the Loss of Liberty
From classical liberal and individual rights perspectives, the administrative state is an affront to liberty almost by definition.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress and President Trump passed a spending bill to avoid another shutdown, but President Trump’s national emergency declaration over a non-emergency provides a troubling precedent…
Blog
Unmeasured Meta-Costs of the Administrative State
In my recent Forbes column “Rule of Flaw and the Costs of Coercion: Charting Undisclosed Burdens of the Administrative State,” I discuss some of the…
News Release
CEI Report Calls for Elimination of EPA’s Flawed Integrated Risk Information System
A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) shows EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) has significant problems with methodology, relies on…
Study
EPA’s Flawed IRIS Program Is Far from Gold Standard
Environmental activists claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) represents the gold standard for risk assessment.[i] In…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The delayed State of the Union speech happened on Tuesday, but contained no surprises on the policy front. The length of the Federal Register doubled…
News Release
CFPB Starts Rollback of Flawed Payday Loan Rule
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced plans to roll back its controversial Obama-era rule against payday lending. CEI financial policy expert Daniel Press welcomed…
News Release
America’s Economic Revival Has Been Based on Environmental Deregulation and Increased Energy Production
Tonight, President Trump delivered his State of the Union address from the well of the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, focusing on topics including…
Blog
Administrative Procedure Act Limitations: Process and Oversight Shortcomings
The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA) set up the foundation of the public consultation rulemaking procedure. Part one of this two-part glance at APA…
Fox Business
Trump’s State of the Union Address in Five Words
He need only focus on five words to convey his vision: less regulation and less dependency in America.
Fox News
Super Bowl – Here’s Why it’s a Big Deal That You Can Place Your (Legal) Bets on the Big Game
For the first time since 1992, Americans outside of Nevada can legally wager on the outcome of the Super Bowl. This comes thanks to a recent…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Midwest froze, but the Federal Register began to heat up. As I predicted earlier, the first three post-shutdown editions were slow. Then Thursday’s edition…
Blog
A Brief Outline of Undisclosed Costs of Regulation
In my recent Forbes column “Rule of Flaw and the Costs of Coercion: Charting Undisclosed Burdens of the Administrative State,” I discussed checks on the…
Forbes
Rule of Flaw and the Costs of Coercion: Charting Undisclosed Burdens of the Administrative State
Bloated by Congress’s delegation of most lawmaking, the Administrative State sits in America’s middle seat with its elbows out.
Blog
Administrative Procedure Act Limitations: Cost Measurement and Disclosure
U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III noted in a 2017 journal article that regulation sometimes contains “too much detail,” changes too “frequently and capriciously,” creates backlogs and…
Blog
The Shutdown Is Over: How Does that Affect Regulation?
During the partial shutdown, the Federal Register slowed to a crawl. Published every weekday, an average day’s edition consists of about 270 pages and contains…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The partial shutdown ended on Friday, though only on a three-week deal. This likely will not show up in the Federal Register’s page and rule…
Reason
Georgia’s ‘Mimosa Mandate’ Is a Victory for Alcohol Freedom
Reason cited Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on alcohol regulations: Why stifle alcohol sales when they’re clearly the miracle elixir society needs? Michelle Minton…
Newsmax
Don’t Let Red Tape Stunt Innovative Cryptocurrency
As cryptocurrency and the associated blockchain celebrate their tenth birthdays, the new “Free to Prosper” agenda for the 116th Congress — published by my…
Blog
What If Trump’s Regulations Exceed His Regulatory Rollback Savings?
President Donald Trump has pruned rules and costs at a quicker pace than other presidents. But could his other policies torpedo that?…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week, people got worked up over hamburgers and a television commercial about razors. Meanwhile the partial federal shutdown continued, and a bill to introduce…
National Law Review
Think-Tank Calls for RFS Repeal
The National Law Review cited CEI’s Agenda for the 116th Congress: On January 8, 2019, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit…
News Release
CEI Asks Court to Invalidate the FCC’s Costly Conditions on 2016 Charter Cable Merger
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and four cable customers yesterday filed the opening brief in their challenge to the wide-ranging conditions imposed by the FCC…
Forbes
If the Government Shutdown Falls Short of Armageddon, We Should Rethink the Other 75 Percent Too
If the longest-ever partial (25%) federal government shutdown persists, might Americans catch on that not everything the federal government does and regulates should remain national…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
On Saturday the partial government shutdown became the longest ever. The news cycle was wall-to-wall wall and shutdown coverage, though Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) introduced…
The American Spectator
Is DOJ Undermining Trump’s Commitment to Drain the Swamp?
The American Spectator cited Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on online betting and the Department of Justice: Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
JDSupra
A Year-End Regulatory Report Card
JDSupra cited CEI’s Agenda for the 116th Congress. With the close of 2018, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a report asking “how is…
Reason
The DOJ Shouldn’t Reignite the Fight Against Intrastate Gambling
Reason cited research by Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on state gambling regulations and the Department of Justice. Research into a history of the Wire…
The Washington Examiner
Oil and Ethanol Industries Renew Hostilities Over Mandate
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s Agenda for Congress, regarding the EPA’s ethanol mandate: The mandate requires refiners to blend a range of biofuels…
The Washington Times
Go Ahead and Prosper
The Washington Times cited President Kent Lassman and CEI’s report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 116th Congress: The Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Regulatory Reform
The first chapter in the new Competitive Enterprise Institute agenda for Congress, “Free to Prosper,” is on regulatory reform. Most of the Agenda is about reforming…
Forbes
Working Together, We Can Keep Country People off the Internet (Just Kidding; Jumpstart 5G This Way)
A buddy of mine living in Charlottesville was wishing for more subsidized rail to travel to Washington. I told him it was cheaper for me…
Daily Caller
Conservatives Give Congress their Top Ten Energy Priorities for 2019
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 116th Congress: Free-market think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
The Washington Examiner
CEI Warns Lawmakers that a ‘Green New Deal’ Would Risk a Humanitarian Crisis
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s latest report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 116th Congress and Director of the Center for Energy and Environment, Myron Ebell:…
The Washington Times
‘Free to Prosper’: Competitive Enterprise Institute Offers Congress A Pro-Growth Agenda
The Washington Times cited CEI’s latest report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 116th Congress: The Competitive Enterprise Institute has released a handy…
Blog
A Free-Market Agenda for the 116th Congress
After a contentious election season, we look forward to the nation’s elected representatives rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. Divided party control in…
News Release
CEI Offers Plan for Congress to Reform Regulations, Help America Prosper
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) offered a set of ambitious, achievable regulatory reform goals for the 116th Congress.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Right now is a weird time for regulation. The shutdown has lasted for several business days, and the Federal Register has slowed to a trickle.
The Washington Free Beacon
Trump’s Deregulatory Agenda Still Rolling, but Pace Slows Slightly
The Washington Free Beacon cited CEI’s report by Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews on President Trump’s deregulatory efforts. While the number of…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Issues Fewest Regulations Ever, ‘Unconstitutionality Index’ Reaches Record Low
The Washington Examiner cited Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews on President Trump and regulatory reform. “At year-end 2018, how is President…
Products
Free to Prosper: Regulatory Reform
View the full chapter on regulatory reform here All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United…
Blog
The 2019 Unconstitutionality Index
Even in an administration attempting to cut regulation, the number of rules from hundreds of federal agencies (nobody really knows exactly how many) will vastly outstrip the…
Blog
Trump’s 2018 Deregulatory Effort: 3,367 Rules, 68,082 Pages
At year-end 2018, how is President Donald Trump’s regulatory reform project going?…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The shutdown continued all through Christmas week. But because the Federal Register works on a few days lag for many of its publications, it still…
Blog
VIDEO: What Qualifies as a ‘Water’ of the United States?
Our friends at the Regulatory Transparency Project have created a great new video to help explain the legal impact of the Clean Water Act and…
Blog
An Executive Order to Shine Light on Dark Matter
Over at The Hill, Wayne Crews and I make the case for an executive order that would limit executive power. It’s more plausible than it…
The Hill
How to Rein in Regulatory Dark Matter
Divisive hot-button issues are distracting public attention from policy reforms that could make everyone better off by expanding the economy. One of these is regulatory…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In an eventful week that included criminal justice reform, shutdown drama, and cabinet drama, this year’s new regulations exceeded 2017’s total with more than a…
AEI
The Supreme Court May Begin to Tame the Administrative State
AEI cited Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on administrative rulemaking. In addition, Chevron helped enable a vast expansion of administrative rule making. Since 1993,…
Blog
Best Books of 2018: Judicial Fortitude
My pick for one of the best books of this year is “Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State” (Encounter Books,…
Cayman Financial Review
Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance To Rein In the Administrative State, by Peter Wallison
Peter Wallison is a rarity in public life. He has been both a high-level government official in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A partial federal shutdown looks more likely than it did a week ago, the federal deficit will likely top $1 trillion next year, and Theresa…
The Wall Street Journal
The Supreme Court May Begin to Tame the Administrative State
The Wall Street Journal cited Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on the Supreme Court’s decision to review deference to the administrative state.
Forbes
Here’s a Year-End Roundup of White House and Federal Agency Efforts to Streamline Guidance Documents
President Donald Trump’s executive actions aimed at slowing the pace of new regulation and eliminating existing ones (the first part was easier) continued in 2018.
News Release
Supreme Court Agrees to Reconsider Deference to Agency’s Interpretation of Regulations
Today, the Supreme Court agreed to consider overturning Auer (or Seminole Rock) deference in a case called Kisor v. Wilkie. Under Auer (or Seminole Rock)…
Forbes
Lame Duck Update: Here’s How the 115th Congress Tried to Streamline Agency Guidance Documents
Despite surprisingly deep bipartisan pedigree of significant regulatory reforms and proposals of the past, few Democrats in the 115th Congress were inclined to work with Republicans and President Trump…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Former President George H.W. Bush was laid to rest, and no Federal Register was published on Wednesday. President Trump created a new superhero, Tariff Man,…
Watertown Public Opinion
Deregulation Contributing to Growing Economy
Watertown Public Opinion cited CEI on the cost of regulations. Trump promised to reduce regulations for small and big businesses. While much has…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In the news, The new NAFTA was signed (but still needs legislative approval in all three countries), General Motors announced major layoffs and plant closures,…
IA InsideARM
Senate Vote On Kraninger To Lead BCFP Expected Tomorrow
IA InsideARM cited CEI’s Senior Fellow John Berlau and Policy Analyst Daniel Press on BCFP nominee Kathleen Kraninger. As insideARM reported earlier,…
The Washington Times
Free-Market Group Calls On Senate To Confirm Kathleen Kraninger To Lead Consumer Bureau
The Washington Times cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Daniel Press on BCFP nominee, Kathleen Kraninger. A conservative free-enterprise group urged the Senate Wednesday to…
The Florida Times-Union
Sunday Editorial: Be Smart With Federal Regulations
The Florida Times-Union cited CEI on the federal regulatory state. But regulations serve little purpose when they are unnecessary, encourage crony capitalism or…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was another short work week due to Thanksgiving, while Black Friday’s ritual tramplings put a damper on that day’s productivity. Last week agencies published…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a short work week due to Veterans Day, as most Americans took time to reflect on the centenary of the World War I…
Washington Examiner
Self-Driving Car Bill’s Backers Seek Senate Vote Before It’s Too Late
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on self-driving vehicle regulatory framework. Lawmakers and American car manufacturers are mounting a last-ditch effort…
The Daily Caller
ACLU Criticized For Suggesting Title IX Proposal ‘Inappropriately’ Favors The Accused
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marc Scribdner on ACLU stance towards DOE’s Title IX reform. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is…
The Hill
Time For A Regulatory Budget
The Hill cited CEI on the burden of federal regulations. America’s regulatory burden has thrived in solitude because it’s uncounted, and therefore uncontrolled.The…
News Release
New FDA Rules on E-Cigarettes Will Limit Adult Smokers’ Access to Safer Alternatives
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced new regulations restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. The new rules would restrict sales at convenience stores…
Reason
Trump Brags About Deregulation, But A Huge Number Of His Deregulatory Actions Were Started Under Obama
Reason cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on Trump deregulation policy. President Donald Trump likes to brag about his record of cutting regulations.
Liberty Unyielding
Protectionism Kills Jobs And Candidacies
Liberty Unyielding cited CEI on Trumps deregulation policy. In the 2016 election, the GOP benefited from farm-state opposition to the Obama administration’s bureaucratic…
Liberty Unyielding
Tuesday’s Election Was Nothing For Republicans To Smile About
Liberty Unyielding cited CEI on Trump’s deregulation policy. The ideological composition of the judiciary matters for the economy. Yesterday, a judge blocked the Trump…
Study
How Antitrust Regulation Hinders Innovation and Competition
Few economic concepts elicit such strong reactions as that of monopoly, and the policy intended to address it—antitrust regulations (called competition policy in the European…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The midterm elections finally happened. The good news is no more political ads for a while; the bad news is that a bunch of politicians…
Forbes
The Midterm Election Results Should Inspire A New Trump Executive Order On Federal Regulations
As part of its economic reform agenda, the Trump administration emphasized cutting red tape. It reaffirmed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cost-benefit review of significant agency rules…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Regulatory Reform?
A divided Congress probably means the status quo will reign on regulation. This is a mixed bag from a free-market perspective. President Trump made…
Cayman Financial Review
The Administrative State
King George III, decried Thomas Jefferson in America’s Declaration of Independence, “has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to…
The Patriot Post
Airline Deregulation At 40: Flying The Friendly Skies
The Patriot Post cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on airline deregulation. Despite those fears about safety and loss of service to some…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Regulators were relatively quiet during the week before the midterm election, though CEI wasn’t, with our colleague Ted Frank arguing a case before the Supreme…
Blog
RegData Tracks Extent of Federal and State Regulation
This week our old friend Chad Reese of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University hosts a new podcast about Mercatus’ RegData…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Section 202 of S.3278 of the Protecting Taxpayers Act
The 17 undersigned organizations together ask Congress to oppose Section 202 of S. 3278, the Protecting Taxpayers Act, and similar efforts to grant the IRS…
Bloomberg News
NLRB Dodging Questions On ‘Joint Employer’ Rule, Democrats Say
Bloomberg News cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on the National Labor Relations Board’s ‘Joint Employer’ Rule. The NLRB responded to those separate…
CNS News
Economy Grew By Healthy 3.5% In Most Recent Quarter
CNS News cite CEI’s Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on Trump deregulation. As Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute noted in 2017, Trump has…
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