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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![CEI study: Congress should establish limits on regulatory power to ensure agencies are not answering major policy questions](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1154438278-578x324-c-default.jpg)
News Release
CEI study: Congress should establish limits on regulatory power to ensure agencies are not answering major policy questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. According to a new report from…
![Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1154438278-578x324-c-default.jpg)
Study
Congress, Not Agencies, Should Answer Major Policy Questions
Many of the biggest policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by federal agencies, not Congress. During the Biden administration, this has included…
![Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/regulatory-dark-matter-papers-1-578x324-c-default.png)
Blog
Congress should heed GAO’s new regulatory reform recommendations
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a December 2023 report titled “Options for Enhancing Congressional Oversight of Rulemaking and Establishing an Office of Legal…
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News Release
Ruling on Tobacco Settlement Payments Expected
Contact: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Christine Hall, 202.331.2258 Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252…
Op-Eds
Congress’ Silk Purse
During the Capitol Hill budget debates, many spectators must have found the use of the term “earmarking” somewhat strange. What does it have…
Op-Eds
Reform the Reformers
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> On the Saturday Show (Jan. 21), NPR commentator John Ydstie, in a…
Op-Eds
New Drug Demagoguery
“New Drugs Hit the Market, but Promised Trials Go Undone” and “FDA: Drug Companies Drop Ball on Studies,” the headlines blared.
Products
How Sarbanes-Oxley Hinders Technology Transfer
I grew up here in Kansas City, on the Kansas side, Johnson County. Ewing Kaufman left the Kaufman Foundation as his legacy, along with many…
Op-Eds
Speaking in Tongues
In Monty Python’s classic "Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch, a Hungarian tourist walks into a British tobacconist’s shop, and, consulting a faulty phrasebook, tells…
Staff & Scholars
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Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
![](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/IMG_9141-scaled-500x500-c-default.jpg)
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
![](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Smith_Fred-Final-scaled-500x500-c-default.jpg)
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
![](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/IMG_8717-scaled-500x500-c-default.jpg)
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
![](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/IMG_8422-scaled-500x500-c-default.jpg)
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment