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
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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…
Search Posts
Blog
What Regulations Did the Trump Administration Eliminate in 2019?
The Trump administration has issued its fiscal year 2019 status update on one-in, two-out. It’s called “Regulatory Reform Results for Fiscal Year 2019.” According to…
The Wall Street Journal
A Republican Proposal to Feed the Country to the Swamp
Progressives dream of making the District of Columbia into a state, but now a pair of Republican senators have the same vision reflected through a…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While the nation celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, rulemaking agencies published new regulations ranging from almond information to missile accidents.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress averted a government shutdown until December 20th by passing a continuing resolution. The Fall 2019 Unified Agenda was also released, which compiles all rulemaking…
Blog
Trump Regulatory Reform Agenda By the Numbers: End of One-In, Two-Out?
The Trump administration has released the Fall 2019 edition of the twice-yearly Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Late and incomplete compared to the last…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2019 Federal Register has already exceeded its page count during President Trump’s first year in office, with more than a month to spare and…
Blog
Ex-Im Reauthorization Vote Today in the House
The House of Representatives will vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank today. Even if Ex-Im is reauthorized, the fight over it has already yielded a…
Forbes
Helicopter Government? How the Internet of Things Enables Pushbutton Regulation from a Distance
Artificial intelligence can be curiously stupid. My Android phone still thinks I’m “wing Cruz” and doesn’t know my kids. Pandora overplays The Church and Deadmau5…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The number of new regulations this year passed 2,500 last week, and the Federal Register surpassed 60,000 pages. This week could see big news on…
Blog
VIDEO: Growth and Opportunity in the Beehive State
I’ve been interested in the work at the Center for Growth and Opportunity (CGO) at Utah State University for some time now, and I was…
News Release
CEI Urges Opposition of S. 2754, the “American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2019”
In response to the introduction of this bill, CEI Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman said: …
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington had one of its best weeks in recent memory. The Nationals won the World Series, and Congress is taking the next two weeks off.
Blog
The Unmeasured Costs of Federal Agency Liberation from Congress, Self-Funding, and Permanence
In considering the overall costs of regulation, little attention is given to the intractability of the administrative state itself. Congress shows little appetite for restraining…
Blog
Spooky Halloween Regulations
Halloween is this week. That means costumes, spooky decorations, trick-or-treating, and pumpkin spice everything. The Code of Federal Regulations contains several rules to keep everything…
The Epoch Times
Sen. Hawley, Blackburn Propose Massive Relocation of Federal Departments, Agencies
The Epoch Times cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Ten Thousand Commandments: Exactly how many federal departments, independent agencies,…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The Washington Nationals made it to the World Series, and the White House canceled some of its newspaper subscriptions. Meanwhile, rulemaking agencies published new regulations…
Blog
Deep State Guide to Resisting Trump’s Executive Orders on Guidance Document Abuse
Competitive Enterprise Institute founder and “despairing optimist” Fred L. Smith, Jr. lamented to me once: “It’s so hard to centrally plan deregulation!”…
The Wall Street Journal
Trump’s Pen Limits Executive Power
President Trump signed two executive orders curbing executive power Oct. 9. They’re a good start, but more is needed.
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week’s big stories included a thickening impeachment plot, Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s resignation, and a letter written to the president of Turkey. In a…
Daily Torch
Trump Keeps Promise to Cut Regulations, Make Them More Reasonable and Less Costly
Daily Torch cites Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on regulatory dark matter: The Vice President for Policy at the…
Forbes
New Trump Orders: Guidance Should Be a Shield, Not a Sword
Forbes cites Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on regulatory dark matter: These actions are the latest attempt to ensure…
The Washington Times
Trump Executive Orders Curtail Union Business on the Taxpayer Dime
Imagine each working day, federal employees report for work but do not perform any governmental duties. Instead, they work for a private enterprise void of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The latest Mad Libs-style political feud involves the NBA, the television cartoon South Park, and the Chinese government. President Trump also issued a pair of…
Blog
President Trump Signs Executive Orders to Improve Use of Guidance Documents
President Donald J. Trump on October 9th signed two executive orders (EOs) intended to improve and limit the use of guidance documents. This is good,…
Blog
More Shields and Fewer Swords in Realm of Federal Regulation
Yesterday the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) held a fascinating event on one of their marquee cases, Baldwin v. United States (read more in my…
Inside Sources
5 Reasons Trump Is Right to Save Incandescent Light Bulbs
Americans will have more freedom of choice now that the Trump administration’s Department of Energy has set about undoing Obama-era regulations targeting incandescent light bulbs in favor…
News Release
CEI Commends Executive Action Restricting Use of Regulatory Dark Matter
The White House today announced President Trump will sign two executive orders aimed at stopping the practice of agencies using guidance documents to effectively implement…
Blog
Software Solutions for Regulatory Reform?
On Friday, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State held a fascinating conference, “The Administration of Democracy,” which covered issues…
Study
Democratic Capitalism: Why Political and Economic Freedom Need Each Other
Is capitalism destroying democracy? It is an old question that political thinkers have long wrestled with.
Blog
Costs of Economic Distortions Caused by ‘Ordinary’ Federal Spending, Subsidies, and Stimulus
While routine ground-level federal spending is less glamorous than interventionist national agendas, socialization of properties and resources, or economic “stimulus” and “big science” crusades, the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Non-impeachment news involved a major court ruling on net neutrality, plus a new tariff. This year’s Federal Register is on pace to surpass last year’s…
Letters
CEI Joins Open Letter of Support for David Bernhardt’s Nomination as Interior Secretary
The undersigned organizations and individuals write to express our strong support for Acting Secretary David Bernhardt as nominee for Secretary of the Department of Interior…
News Release
CEI Congratulates New OIRA Director Paul Ray and Encourages Him to Embrace Reforms
The White House announced today that Paul Ray will be the next director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office…
Blog
Costs of Government Steering by Direct Ownership or Control of Resources
If one thinks government ought to run a sector of the economy (single-payer health care, education, retirement, energy), then almost by definition that individual would…
Blog
Vast Regulatory Costs of Top-Down National Plans, Agendas, and Legislative Schemes
If government steers in some societal, industrial, or sector-specific endeavor via top-down national plans, agendas, or legislative schemes, it can generate ongoing regulatory costs even…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress is out of session for the next two weeks, and the impeachment investigation will likely dominate headlines for some time to come. Meanwhile, the…
Inside Sources
Air Conditioning – Saving Lives but Getting No Love
Every summer brings heat waves, but recent summers have also brought waves of criticisms about air conditioning. We are told that it is unnecessary, unhealthy and…
Forbes
Will the Regulatory Right-to-Know Act Ever Be Enforced?
For the past two years there's been a big production made of the Trump Administration’s year-end Status Report on the “one-in, two-out” regulatory reduction program. These…
Forbes
What is the Cost of the Permanent Federal Regulatory Bureaucracy?
It is well known that businesses constantly seek favors from government. The phenomenon is called "rent-seeking" by economists, and it gets lots of attention. Elon Musk of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The House passed a continuing resolution to avoid a federal shutdown until November 21st. The Senate will likely follow suit this week. The 2019 Federal…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress returned from recess, the Democratic presidential candidates had a debate, and the 2019 federal deficit topped $1 trillion with a month left to go…
Blog
Unknown Societal Costs of Imposing Regulation Based on Secret (or Creatively Leveraged) Data
From the food pyramid and dietary guidelines, to vaping policies, to the Progressive zeal for eugenics, humility-challenged administrative experts can be mistaken, can mislead, or…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Contrary to my earlier prediction, the number of new regulations this year did not pass 2,000 last week, ending the four-day week at 1,991. Meanwhile,…
Blog
Trump Tariff Costs to Outweigh Benefits from Deregulation
Early in the Trump administration, a series of executive orders slowed the growth of new regulations and removed some existing rules. From the start of…
Blog
Department of Energy Expands Consumer Choice in Light Bulbs
The Trump administration took a pro-consumer step today as the Department of Energy finalized a rule that will allow certain types of lower-cost light bulbs to…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The UK parliament will soon be suspended for a five-week period, something the U.S. Congress should consider emulating as often as possible. Over in the…
News Release
New CEI Video Urges Americans to Show Their Support for Faster Dishwashers
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today released a new video making the case for a new Department of Energy (DOE) regulation allowing faster dishwashers and…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
A humorous diplomatic row over Greenland was not the only news of the week, with China tariffs, divisive rhetoric, and recession fears also putting in…
Blog
Cataloging Regulatory Costs of Cronyism and Rent-Seeking in a Self-Interested Administrative State
Rent-seeking as a policy concern has been done to death: It’s been described over and over how regulation is often not about elevating the public…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week was the Federal Register’s busiest of the year, with its 3,075 pages almost tripling a normal week’s count. A new economically significant regulation…
Staff & Scholars
![](https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/IMG_9026-scaled-500x500-c-default.jpg)
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