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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The week in regulations: Beet food coloring and crab housekeeping
Culture warriors got upset over the Super Bowl halftime show. A mini-shutdown over ICE funding delayed some labor market indicators. Agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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Free the Economy podcast: Social mobility in the 50 states with Justin Callais
In this week’s episode we talk about satellite shot clocks at the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Reserve nominee Kevin Warsh’s digital-dollar beliefs,…
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Halfway through the 119th Congress, CEI’s Agenda is turning into action
As the 119th Congress reaches its halfway mark, it is a good time to look back on what lawmakers have done in the past year.
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Op-Eds
Corporate PR Must Reach People as Consumers and Citizens
PR pros have long sought to link their efforts to clients’ return on investment. The planned campaign for the Aluminum Association, detailed in this magazine…
Op-Eds
The Green Machine
Click on pdf link above to obtain full version of article Twenty EU member and accession states labour under a cadre…
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Russian Revolution
On <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />December 2, 2003, Andrei Illarionov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief economic adviser, stunned green activists…
Op-Eds
Resentment, fear drive U.N. quest for control
There’s mounting evidence that the Internet’s good old days as a global cyberzone of freedom—where governments generally take a "hands off" approach—may be numbered.
Op-Eds
Wishful Anti-spam Thinking
Tomorrow, the House is expected to pass new anti-spam legislation. The effort is understandable: The increasingly apparent downside of an Internet on which you…
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Rescuing Free Trade From the Bureaucrats & Special Interests
Full article available in pdf format.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> In the aftermath of the…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- 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