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…
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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
News Release
REINS Act Introduced in Senate
Washington, D.C., February 28, 2013 — This week, Sen. Rand Paul introduced the Senate version of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of…
Townhall
Government Spending Hurts People
Every day Americans from all walks of life deal with petty tyrannies and worse from federal bureaucrats. And the economic costs of complying with all…
Townhall
Report finds that EPA & FCC regulations are costing Americans big time
Between the EPA and the FCC, government regulations are costing Americans close to the tune of $495 billion, according to a new report from the…
Blog
Why The Sequester Budget Cuts Are Good
As we noted earlier, the automatic budget cuts contained in the sequester will help the economy in the long run, even if they are…
Blog
Europe’s Latest Wake-Up Call: Italian Elections
Europe, which has been enjoying a recent respite from financial chaos, is about to get a rude awakening: Italian elections. Voters will go to the…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
53 new regulations, from the mental states of federal employees to giving rides to sick or injured people.
Townhall
Obama Issued $216 Billion in New Regulations in 2012
One solution to this problem comes from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a “free-market” conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. CEI has…
Blog
Regulatory Report Card: Federal Communications Commission
Regulatory agencies need to be much more transparent. One way to do that is through an annual report card with important information about each agency…
Study
Regulatory Report Card: FCC
Full Document Available in PDF It may come as a surprise that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the third most expensive…
News Release
FCC Is Third Most Expensive Agency of Federal Government
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 21, 2013 – Somewhat surprisingly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the third most expensive agency when it comes to the costs…
Blog
Setting The Stage For Regulatory Reform — Part I
Just about everything in your life is regulated by the government; from the alarm clock that wakes you up in the morning to the size…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
90 new regulations, from hot air balloons to Sea World’s fireworks shows.
Forbes
Obama’s SOTU: A Campaign Speech That Erodes The Power Of The Citizenry
Every year legislators and bureaucrats disgorge new laws and regulations which discourage job creation. Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has pointed to…
Blog
CEI Podcast For February 14, 2013: Dodd-Frank’s Constitutionality
CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman discusses a lawsuit in which CEI and two co-plaintiffs argue that portions of Dodd-Frank are unconstitutional.
Blog
An Unconstitutional Gift To Labor Unions
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the New Jersey Senate has only passed one bill associated with rebuilding storm-damaged public infrastructure. Sadly, if passed, the…
Blog
Obama Renews Call For Paycheck Fairness Act
In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama renewed his call for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would make it…
Blog
Payback? Government Targets S&P And Egan-Jones, Not Moody’s Or Fitch
Why not Moody's? Why not Fitch? Of all the questions raised about the U.S. government's strange case against Standard & Poor's—a lawsuit that actually asserts that…
Blog
Immigration Reform’s Economic Benefits
Comprehensive immigration reform is coming. For those that don’t speak D.C. doublespeak, that means more costly, useless, and privacy-invading border drones, more guards…
Blog
State Of The Union? Try “Over-Regulated”
In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama cannot be expected to pledge to roll back government in any manner whatsoever, a…
Blog
Sequester Budget Cuts Would Increase Long-Term Economic Growth
The automatic budget cuts contained in the sequester will increase economic growth in the long-term, if Congress will just let them happen—rather than listening to…
Blog
State Of The Union Live Blog 2013
Welcome to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s live blog of President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address. Tune in here on Tuesday night at…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
61 new regulations, from your doctor’s stock portfolio to growing wine in Indiana.
Blog
No More Regulation Without Representation
Over at the American Spectator, Wayne Crews and I show just how bad the problem of regulation without representation is by using Wayne's handy Anti-Democracy…
The American Spectator
The Anti-Democracy Index
The United States Constitution gives “all legislative powers herein granted” to Congress. Neither the judicial nor the executive branch has the power to make laws,…
Blog
National ID Proponents’ Bad Arguments
America’s new national identification system is coming. President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators want to enact a national identification card that would…
Blog
Obamacare: More Cost, Less Coverage
Seven million fewer people than predicted will have health care coverage a decade after Obamacare’s passage, admits the Congressional Budget Office. One reason “is that…
Washington Examiner
Letter to the Editor: Sequestration Cuts Will Increase Long-Term Growth
Re: "Drop in GDP a preview for area," Jan. 31 This article falsely claims that the U.S. economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012…
Blog
The Cost Of Enforcing Government Regulation
Regulatory cost estimates of around $1.8 trillion encompass compliance costs paid by the public plus economic drag. But but those estimates do not include the…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
70 new regulations, from airplane bathrooms to advertising seized property.
Blog
The New National Identification System Is Coming
“Maybe we should just brand all the babies.” With this joke, Ronald Reagan swatted down a national identification card -- or an enhanced Social Security…
Blog
CEI Podcast For January 31, 2013: The Recess Appointments That Weren’t
Federal judges recently struck down four recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the Senate was in pro forma session when President Obama…
Blog
The Coming Regulatory Recession?
Yesterday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce reported the stunning news the U.S. economy actually contracted by 0.1 percent…
Washington Examiner
Inside the Beltway: Alarmed by the Feds
It could be raining regulations soon, should the wishes of Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island come true.
Washington Examiner
Inside the Beltway: Alarmed by the Feds
It could be raining regulations soon, should the wishes of Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island come true.
Blog
“Right-To-Work” Train Rolls On: Next Stop, Pennsylvania?
The earthquake that was Michigan's right-to-work law has produced a number of interesting aftershocks, not least of which is the right-to-work rumbling in Pennsylvania where…
Washington Examiner
Out of Control: 47 New Regulations for Every New Law
According to a new Competitive Enterprise Institute study provided to Secrets, agency bureaucrats have finalized 47 times more new rules…
Blog
LaHood Out At DOT, But Is There Hope For A Qualified Transportation Secretary?
After months of confusing double-talk on whether or not he would stay on in a second Obama term, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced he…
Blog
The Anti-Democracy Index
In compiling Ten Thousand Commandments over the years (alas, February 8 is going to mark 20 years of this project) it…
Blog
How Much Does Federal Paperwork And Tax Compliance Cost?
Regulations notwithstanding, the off-budget costs of tax compliance for individuals and businesses are said to account for most of the federal paperwork burden, although there…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
56 new regulations, from medical records to crop insurance.
Blog
Obama Administration Thumbs Nose At Court Ruling On Separation Of Powers
Thumbing its nose at the federal courts, which ruled today President Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board last year were not…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: January 25, 2013
National: According to the Brewers Association, the trade group that represents smaller craft breweries, the Small BREW Act will be reintroduced in Congress in…
Blog
CEI Podcast For January 24, 2013: Gov. McDonnell’s Transportation Plan
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell recently released a headline-grabbing plan for the state's transportation funding that would abolish the state's gasoline tax and raise other taxes…
Blog
SEC’s White May Be All Right, But Cordray’s CFPB Still A Constitutional Catastrophe
Today, President Obama will send to the Senate two nominations for two key financial regulatory posts. Noting that both of the nominees subject to Senate…
Blog
REINS Act Introduced In The House
CEI has been pushing a common-sense regulatory reform idea for years: Congress should vote on all regulations with an annual cost of $100 million or…
Blog
Economic Freedom Declines Again; Government Control Is Bad For Your Health
Economic freedom has declined under the Obama administration, and America's rank has repeatedly fallen on the Index of Economic Freedom and other rankings issued…
News Release
REINS Act Introduced in House
Washington, D.C., January 24, 2013—This week, Rep. Todd Young (IN-9) introduced the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act with 121…
Blog
Greens Complain About BPA-Free Products They Helped Spur
Anti-chemical environmental activists rarely consider the consequences of their policies. They demonize chemicals that have been used safely for decades and advance chemical bans…
Blog
Walker, Wisconsin Ranger (Strikes Again)
It’s almost too beautiful to believe. In this era of ever-expanding government power, of rising and risible rapacity in the federal Leviathan, can it really…
Blog
New Jersey State Senate Pushes Union Giveaway in Project Labor Agreement Bill
The extent and huge costs of the damage from Hurricane Sandy to New Jersey should make rebuilding the worst affected areas…
Blog
Obamacare Increases Unnecessary Medical Tests, Wastes Doctors’ Time, Drives Up Billings And Costs
President Obama claimed Obamacare would cut healthcare costs, but it actually increased them in many ways, some of which are chronicled here. Here are yet…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
54 new regulations, from microwave ovens to roof trusses.
Blog
TSA’s Body Scanner Shuffle Continues, Agency Still Flouts The Law On Body Scanners
A great deal of news coverage today has been given to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to remove backscatter X-ray strip-search machines from U.S.
Blog
Federal Regulation Update: 224 Economically Significant Rules In The Pipeline
The federal government's Fall Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions finally appeared the Friday before Christmas (the Spring 2012…
Blog
Where Did All The Environmental Protection Agency Rules Go?
The Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations has always been squishy and has never bound agencies to issue solely the rules contained within; but the decline…
Blog
Washington’s Liquor Privatization Did Increase Prices, But Also Selection And Availability
Since selling off the state-owned liquor monopoly, many Washington State residents have noticed an unfortunate development; despite what proponents of privatization promised, the cost of…
Washington Examiner
Obama Issued $216 Billion in New Regulations in 2012, Showing the Need For Reform
Even though these regulations may seem harmless, the costs add up. Something needs to be done about excess regulations so that the worker can take…
Blog
Obamacare Imposes New Fees, Cost Increases On The Public
Obamacare was sold to the public based on the fallacy that it would cut healthcare costs, but each month brings additional evidence that it…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
52 new regulations, from nematodes to tiltorotors.
Washington Examiner
To fix government, reform its agencies
Another way would be legislation to have all laws/rules of executive agencies be subject to economic impact studies which would show the dollar amount and…
Statesman
Senators, protect us from the EPA
According Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, President Obama issued 953 “major regulations” (meaning regulations with a cost of $100 million or more, or…
Blog
Qualified Mortgage Rule Is One Of Many Dodd-Frank Boots To Drop
The first thing that should be said about today's "qualified mortgage" rule is that it is just one of many new regulations the Consumer Financial…
Blog
How About Some Intellectual Diversity At The Labor Department?
As the cabinet turns: Hilda Solis announced this week that she will soon be stepping down from her post as secretary of labor. Solis, a…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: New Year Edition 2013
With a new year comes a new opportunity to take stock in our past endeavors and renew our goals for the future. While many a…
Blog
Feds Say Hybrid Electric Vehicles Too Quiet, Noisemakers Should Be Mandated
Green paternalists often gush about the great potential for hybrid electric automobiles to reduce negative externalities, or social costs, such as local air pollution and…
Blog
Basel III Cliff May Be Averted, But Dangers Still Loom For Main Street Banks
After numerous criticisms from U.S. community banks and lawmakers of both parties, the international committee in charge of the Basel III bank capital agreement…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
28 new regulations, from the United Soybean Board to synthetic drugs.
Forbes
Federal Regulation: The Costs of Benefits
The premise that national top-down regulation of the economy brings substantial net benefits dominates public policy. But forget the philosophical debate over laissez-faire vs. the…
Blog
Update On D.C.’s Driverless Car Legalization Legislation
In November, I noted in The Washington Post and here on Open Market that a bill introduced in the D.C. Council contained two dangerously flawed provisions and…
Blog
Settlement: FTC Ends Google Antitrust Investigation
Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared Google of accusations of "Search Bias," and inappropriately harming rivals. The investigation lasted nearly…
Blog
CEI Podcast For January 3, 2013: The Fiscal Cliff Meets The Costberg
Congress made an unsatisfying compromise deal this week to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff. But Vice President for policy Wayne Crews thinks this is…
Blog
New Year, New Laws
More than 400 new laws came into effect today.
Blog
Chicago Voters Reelect Legally Insane Judge
In November, Chicago voters re-elected a legally insane judge charged with a crime of violence. "The Cook County Democratic Party…
Blog
2012’s Year-End Regulatory Report Card
Both 2011 and 2010 finished with over 81,000 pages in the Federal Register, as tallied in Ten Thousand Commandments. These were the highest page counts…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
54 new regulations, from handling spearmint oil to drug testing railroad workers.
Blog
EPA Regulations Cost How Much?!
Over at the Daily Caller, I summarize my recent CEI Regulatory Report Card on the EPA. Recommended if you don't feel like reading the entire…
Forbes
Obama’s Regulatory Cliff Draws Near
The scope is staggering. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the overall regulatory burden has reached $1.8 trillion annually, and $215.4 billion in compliance costs…
Daily Caller
EPA costs US economy $353 billion per year
Transparency is the lifeblood of democracy. Washington needs more of it, especially in the all-too-opaque world of regulation. The…
Blog
Community Reinvestment Act Induced Banks To Take Bad Risks, Economic Study Finds
The Community Reinvestment Act, which "prods banks to make loans in low-income communities,” encouraged banks to make riskier loans, concludes a recent study…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
68 new regulations, from summer flounder fishing to switching contractors.
Blog
Fear The Regulatory Cliff, Not The Fiscal Cliff
Economist Bruce Bartlett notes that by cutting the federal budget deficit, the much-feared fiscal cliff will actually increase the size of the economy in the…
Blog
CEI Podcast For December 19, 2012: The EPA Regulatory Report Card
Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young talks about the need for more transparency in the world of regulation, as well as CEI's new EPA Regulatory…
Blog
Stuck in Time: Italy’s Politics
Things have a way of repeating themselves. This is especially true in Italy, where politics have been stuck in a time loop for the…
Blog
Path To Transparency: The EPA Regulatory Report Card
Transparency is in short supply in the world of regulation. How many rules does an agency have in the pipeline? How much will they cost?…
Study
Regulatory Report Card: Environmental Protection Agency
The quality of regulation depends heavily on its transparency. Taking to heart Justice Louis Brandeis’ stated belief that sunshine is the best disinfectant, the purpose…
Blog
The Regulatory Reduction Commission
In today's Washington Times, Wayne Crews and I write about a reform that has nearly two decades of bipartisan support, has a proven track record…
News Release
EPA Lacks Transparency, Is Far Costlier Than Other Agencies
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 19, 2012 – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations now cost Americans an estimated $353 billion per year—almost twice the regulatory costs of…
Washington Times
Federal rules cost $10,000 per employee
What do the Progressive Policy Institute, former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, former presidential candidate Herman Cain and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
69 new regulations, from Spanish translations of used car buyers guides to shortnose suckers.
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Montreal mulls requiring dogs to be bilingual, USDA regulates polydactyl cats, plus more.
Blog
PolitiFact Is The Liar Of The Year
PolitiFact falsely depicted Michael Cannon, the director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, as suggesting that state law overrides federal law, erroneously…
Blog
CEI Podcast For December 12, 2012: Ending The Beer Monopoly
Fellow in Consumer policy Studies Michelle Minton argues that the beer industry in America is essentially a monopoly. In her new paper "Avoid a Monopoly…
One News Now
Regulations Aplenty
Ryan Young, fellow in regulatory studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), reports that as of December 3, 2012, 3,392 final rules have been published…
Forbes
Regulation Vs. Jobs: Assessing The Employment Impact Of Rules and Regulations
One might think there’s some official acceptance that the thousands of regulations issued annually in Washington have a dampening impact on job creation. But no;…
Blog
Obama’s Dangerous Italian Labor Rhetoric
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260"] President Obama spoke in Detroit on Monday[/caption] President Obama condemned yesterday Michigan’s forthcoming transition to a right-to-work state. He claimed,…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
94 new regulations, from apricots to civilian flights in Iraq.
Blog
CEI Podcast For December 6, 2012: Rising Public Sector Pay
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson discusses why public sector workers make substantially more money than their private sector counterparts.
Blog
When Gridlock Is Good: The Case Of The Toxic Substances Control Act
When it comes to traffic, gridlock is never good. And in politics, it's a big problem when lawmakers can't agree on a plan to rescue…
Blog
Beyond The Fiscal Cliff, Bipartisan Regulatory Reform
If I'm reading this right, the Progressive Policy Institute wants to roll back some over-regulation. It's not clear how much, but it does seem to…
Blog
What Is Green Chemistry?
Washington's state bureaucrats are soliciting proposals from "public and private sector firms to help create a technically competent and vibrant Green Chemistry Center to help…
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