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
A Brief Outline of a Regulatory Report Card Congress Should Enact
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so. — Quote frequently attributed to Galileo, that, alas, probably was not his.If I…
The Washington Examiner
Warning: Biden’s Costly Overregulation Turns ‘Extreme’
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on President Biden’s Trucking Action Plan and Vice President Kamala Harris’ federal…
National Review
If You Really Want Broad-Based Prosperity, Dismantle the Regulatory State
National Review cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on dismantling the regulatory state: So argues Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute in …
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Publication
Government Accountability Office Database on Regulations
Download Chapter 9 as a PDF The various federal reports and databases on regulations serve different purposes: The Federal Register shows the aggregate number…
Publication
Bookending the Trump Era: Seven Efforts to Reduce and Streamline Regulatory Flows
Download Chapter 1 as a PDF This 2021 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments begins with a survey of approaches the Trump administration took during…
Publication
Analysis of “The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations”
Download Chapter 8 as a PDF One of the goals of regulatory reform should be to improve disclosure and enhance its relevance to rulemaking.
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2021
View Full Report Here Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and…
The Washington Times
Trump-Dependent Media Feels the Pinch
The Washington Times cites CEI’s 10KC study by Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews: The Competitive Enterprise Institute will issue on Wednesday its annual…
Forbes
Here Are the 298 Costliest Rules in the New Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations
No matter the presidential administration, federal agencies issue thousands of rules and regulations every year compared to a relative handful of laws passed by…
Staff & Scholars

Clyde Wayne Crews
Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation

Ryan Young
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Sam Kazman
General Counsel
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance

Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment