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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News Release
CEI Launches “Eye on FTC” Campaign to Raise Awareness of Agency Overreach and Lack of Transparency
WASHINGTON—The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) launched a new “Eye on FTC” educational campaign today to raise awareness about overreach and a lack of…

Blog
Congress Should Require the Administration to Adopt a Regulatory Budget in Exchange for Raising the Debt Ceiling
Every once in a while, the escalating drama of Washington policy debate has a genuine problem behind it. The suddenly heated focus on the need to…
Larry Kudlow Show
RADIO: CEI’s Wayne Crews Joins The Larry Kudlow Show
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies Wayne Crews joined The Larry Kudlow Show to discuss the hidden tax of federal regulations.
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Study
The Simple ABC’s of Regulatory Reform
View Full Document as PDF Streaming out of Washington now are sometimes bizarre regulations covering, among other things; workplace ergonomics, flammability…
Citation
Congress Reins in Regulatory Beast
Op-Eds
Unlivable Communities
Vice President Al Gore recently announced a new “livable com munities agenda,” designed to “ensure a high quality of life” by controlling so-called “urban sprawl.” But…
Study
So, What Will This Unfunded Mandate Cost Me?
View Full Document as PDF The $1.77 trillion spending budget President Clinton sent to Congress February 2 tells just part of…
Publication
What A Congress
As1998 draws to a close, it’s appropriate to look back at the most significant deregulatory successes that have been achieved during the year. Where should…
Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey
Wealthier is Healthier
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