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
Free the Economy podcast: Draining the swamp with Jim Bovard
In this week’s episode we cover fake endangered species, Pennsylvania’s climate policy showdown, a robust defense of property rights in New…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Seat belts and eagle possession
This week’s roundup will be a little different than usual. Since the new year began mid-week, and I already published a breakdown of 2024’s year-end numbers, as…
Blog
Biden’s regulatory landscape: A year-end analysis
As we ring in 2025, the Federal Register reveals a noteworthy chapter in regulatory history under the Joe Biden administration. We take our traditional year-end look at it here. The 2024 Federal Register closed…
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News Release
Zero August Job Growth Reflects Anti-Business, Red Tape Climate in Washington
Washington, D.C., September 2, 2011 — Today’s job numbers from the US Department of Labor are downright dismal: the economy failed to add new…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 1, 2011: The Blocked AT&T-T-Mobile Merger
The Department of Justice sued this week to stop the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia thinks this is a mistake.
Blog
The DOJ’s Antitrust Seers
The philosopher Yogi Berra once said that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Let’s apply his lesson to the proposed $39 billion…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 196: Babysitting
This bill will result in a lot of unhappy nights at home for frustrated parents – and a lot less income for sitters who have…
Blog
NLRB’s Pro-Big Labor Ruling Trifecta is Bad News for the Economy
Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for…
Blog
Despite D.C. Legalization of Online Poker, Players Leave USA
It is perhaps a little ironic that the most vocal opponents of online poker will soon be the only people in the USA who can…
Blog
Many New Job-Killing Regulations from the Obama Administration
Andrew Stiles describes "Ten Job-Destroying Regulations" from the Obama administration that will wipe out hundreds of thousands of jobs. Another job-killing regulation is the…
Blog
Welch vs. Lee: What About Freight?
Libertarian urbanist -- call him a "market urbanist" -- Timothy B. Lee recently had an article at Forbes.com in which he criticized Matt Welch…
Blog
Infrastructure Pork versus Infrastructure Investment: In Washington, There is No Difference
The labor theory of value still survives -- at least in politics. Both Democrats and Republicans still believe that "government must create jobs," and if…
Washington Times
Obama’s Proposed Regs Would Cost Billions Annually
Washington Times highlights Wayne Crews's study on the federal regulatory burden. And a study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think…
Blog
More Barriers to Job Creation from Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability Risk
The president is full of hollow rhetoric about creating jobs, even though his stimulus package destroyed jobs in our export sector and…
Blog
AT&T-T-Mobile Merger Delayed
A few months ago, the FCC said it would hand down a decision on whether to allow AT&T and T-Mobile to merge within 180 days.
Washington Times
Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?
As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, news stations bombard our televisions with constant updates from the National Hurricane Center. While Americans ought…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Some of the stranger rules I've dug recently:…
Blog
The Texas Empire Strikes Back
Well, I made a prediction here yesterday: It will be interesting to see how those in Congress who have been demanding…
Blog
Who’s Afraid of Snuggles the Bear?
As the East Coast braces to be pummeled by Hurricane Irene, a new study in the Journal Air Quality and Atmosphere…
Blog
NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
Washington Times
Bureaucrats Have Gone Rogue
G.O.P. presidential candidates should emphasize that reining in the E.P.A. is a constitutional imperative. Yes, Americans are worried about jobs and the economy, but arguing…
Washington Times
Rekindling the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. is now memorialized with an imposing statue on the D.C. National Mall. While the honor is long overdue, his legacy should…
Blog
Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
News Release
Obama’s Deregulation Initiative Falls Short of Substantive Reform
Washington, D.C., August 24, 2011—President Obama announced that independent agencies will wipe as many as 500 rules from the books in the coming months.
Blog
FCC Repeals 83 Regulations
The repeals will become official upon publication in the Federal Register.
Blog
More Bailouts, Urge Left-Leaning Journalists
Left-leaning journalists are urging more mortgage bailouts to try to increase consumer spending, since they erroneously think that inadequate consumer spending is the principal cause…
Yahoo News
The Alarming Cost Of Climate Change Hysteria
Yahoo News discusses an estimate of the costs of federal regulations from Wayne Crews's study. The Small Business Administration estimates that compliance with…
Blog
Deregulate the Practice of Law to Promote Justice and Create Jobs
It's time to deregulate the practice of law, write Clifford Winston and Robert W. Crandall of the Brookings Institution in The Wall Street…
Blog
A Letter to the Editor about Natural Rights and the Cuban Economy
In an editorial last week Mary Anastasia O’Grady wrote about a supposed “economic revolution” happening in Cuba. It seems the Cuban government has just liberated…
Business Insider
$38 Billion-Worth Of Red Tape Choking Businesses
Business Insider mentions Wayne Crews's study on the size of the federal regulatory burden. U.S. businesses continue to deal with the unintended consequences…
Blog
Lemonade Freedom Day Is Tomorrow
Tomorrow, parents and children across the country will set up lemonade stands in their neighborhoods. And they’re going to do it without getting licensed, inspected,…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
In Delaware, it is a felony to wear a disguise while committing a felony, plus more.
Business Insider
Forget Corporate Jets. Government Limousines Show They’re Stealing You Blind
President Obama has made a big deal out of corporate jets. Apparently they are a symbol not of success but of greed. Yet even…
Wall Street Pit
Is Business Choking on Red Tape?
The Wall Street Pit discusses Wayne Crews's report on the size of the federal regualtory burden. U.S. businesses continue to deal with the…
Blog
“Rules are Rules,” When it Comes to Yard Sales
The City of Salem, Oregon, is cracking down on yard sales — even if they are a citizen’s last option to pay for expensive…
The Future of Freedom Foundation
O’er the Land of the 39 Percent Free
Blog
Regulation of the Day 195: Fitted Sheets
California’s state legislature is poised to pass SB 432. It would, of all things, make it a crime for hotels to use non-fitted sheets.
The Future of Freedom Foundation
Let’s Put a Stop to the War on Salt
First Lady Michelle Obama has been lobbying strongly this year for food manufacturers to reduce the sodium content of their products. Her efforts scored a…
OA Online
Mileage Standards Will Decrease Safety
Blog
Obama Ignores even Internal Dissent on Environmentalist Agenda
President Obama will stop at nothing to pursue his war on coal. He won’t even listen to those within his own administration. His…
Blog
EPA-Backed Study: Products Containing BPA Harmless
The US Environmental Protection Agency officially backed a study last week underscores what scientists around the world have been saying for years: BPA is not…
Blog
Alcohol Regulatory Round-up: August 11th 2011
Federal: A proposed bill, Brewer's Employment and Excise Relief Act, would reduce the federal excise taxes for craft brewers in order to help them…
OA Online
Finally Free from Government Servitude
All that business last month about July 4 being In- dependence Day was a temporary indulgence by those Founding Father guys. Hope you enjoyed the…
OA Online
Europe’s Shorts-Sightedness
This week, troubles in Europe may have played as much of a role in the U.S. stock market carnage and volatility as the downgrade of…
Reason
What Would You Do to Improve Job Growth?
Study
Stealing You Blind
Remember when we used to call government employees “public servants”? They’re servants no more—now they’re bureaucratic masters of the universe, claiming inflated salaries and early…
Blog
The War on Lemonade
Besides today's CEI Podcast, Iain Murray and I have a column over at Townhall.com about Lemonade Freedom Day:…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 11, 2011: Lemonade Freedom Day
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray talks about the rash of children's lemonade stands being shut down by police, and his plans to celebrate Lemonade…
Blog
Massachusetts Reverses “Buy Local” Mandate for Brewers
Public Outcry Forces Rule Reversal for Massachusetts Craft Brewers Despite the recession, one segment of the US market, at least, has been steadily growing. This…
Blog
Just in time for the Debt Super Committee–the new Hello Kitty Federal Budget Calculator
The Hello Kitty Federal Budget Calculator is here to ease tension created by hostile political climate in the wake of the debt-ceiling-increase debates. Yesterday,…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 194: Facebook Friends
Missouri has a new law that bans teachers from becoming Facebook friends with any current or former student. The goal is to prevent inappropriate…
Blog
Weird Healthcare Regulation of the Day: No Coverage for Men With Breast Cancer
"Disease does not discriminate, but apparently Medicaid coverage does. A 26-year-old South Carolina tile-layer has found himself with breast cancer and out of luck for…
NCPA
Using Price Theory to Reform Overregulated America
Blog
Obamacare Costs Additional $50 Billion a Year More Than Predicted, Based on Yet Another False Assumption in Calculating its Costs
“Federal payments required by President Barack Obama’s health care law are being understated by as much as $50 billion per year because official budget forecasts…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 193: Cleaning Up After Riots
This is a different broken window fallacy than the kind one usually sees.
Blog
The “Obama Law” Devastates Impoverished People in the World’s Second Poorest Country, The Congo
People are going hungry, pulling their children out of school due to poverty, and joining criminal gangs to make ends meet in the poorest region…
Blog
The Big Repeal
Congress and the White House have typically been reluctant to repeal any laws or regulations, regardless of which party is in power. The solution? Change…
NCPA
Down on the Downgrade?
The downgrade itself was fair. However, S&P’s timing and “partisan gridlock” rationale were questionable, as is its implicit advocacy of higher taxes. Nothing really…
American Spectator
The Big Repeal
In 1787, there were four federal crimes. Now there are over 4,000. The Code of Federal Regulations runs over 157,000 pages. America is overlawyered and…
Investor's Business Daily
To Rule Means To Reign
Blog
Regulation of the Day 192: Fire Extinguishers
Britain has a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. It isn’t quite living up to its name, though. The group is pressing to ban…
Study
Jump, Jive an’ Reform Regulation
Full Document Available in PDF Cost-benefit analysis has long been a centerpiece of regulatory reform proposals, with…
Investor's Business Daily
The Growth Agenda and Its Enemies
Even President Obama now seems to realize that rescuing America from its financial crisis requires getting Americans back to work. What he doesn’t seem to…
Citation
Iain Murray on WMAL Morning Majority
The US government could cut up to a dozen agencies without hurting the country, says Iain Murray, vice president for strategy of the Center for…
Investor's Business Daily
The Regulatory Recession
The debt ceiling negotiations and debates over government spending have transfixed the nation for the last few weeks. President Obama’s call for a “clean” debt…
Comment
Comments to DOT in the matter of Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), 67 Fed. Reg. 69366
Full Document Available in PDF…
Blog
Hoover Didn’t Cut Spending, and Spending Cuts Didn’t Trigger the 1937 Roosevelt Recession
The false left-wing meme of the day is that the modest spending cuts in Sunday's debt limit deal are bad, because spending cuts caused the…
Barrasso
Red Tape Review August 5, 2011
Barrasso
Government in Your Car
CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman discusses the unintended consequences of government mandates for auto manufacturers. CAFE fuel effciency standards result in smaller, lighter cars, which…
Blog
Welcome to What Recovery?
Today, August 3, 2011, marks the one year anniversary of Treasure Secretary Tim Geithner’s op-ed in The New York Times, ostentatiously titled “Welcome…
Blog
Police Shut Down Another Rogue Lemonade Stand
Abigail Krutsinger, 4, never applied for a permit and a health inspection.
One News Now
New Fuel Economy Standards Could Hurt More Than They Help
Letters
Letter on Voluntary Reporting Comments
I am writing on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit free-market public policy group based in Washington, D.C. This letter responds to…
Comment
Comments on Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulation
SUMMARY OF CEI COMMENTS: CEI’s comments cover the following four areas. Consumers’ Right to Know: CEI has long advocated the consumer’s “Regulatory Right to Know.”…
Blog
License to Rent-Seek
Few regulations are more blatantly anti-competitive than occupational licensing.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 191: Sippy Cups
New York’s state legislature just passed a bill requiring warning labels to be put on all sippy cups sold in the state.
One News Now
Bad Foundation
Most attempts at financial reform have been burdensome, created unintended consequences and have been harmful to economic growth. But compared to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street…
Blog
Bipartisan Regulatory Reform
Usually, "bipartisan" means "twice as stupid." But for real regulatory reform to happen, both parties need to be involved.
Blog
The Limits of Government-Funded Psychology: 9/11 Counseling Backfires
After school shootings, psychologists fan out and provide “grief counseling” to student bodies, but it’s far from clear that this does any good. Critics say…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 190: How to Behave While in a Forest
Since time immemorial, Cook County, Illinois has had very strict personal conduct regulations for its forests. Among other things, it has been illegal to:…
Fox News
Reforming Regulation, Bit by Bit
President Obama recently issued an executive order directing independent agencies to comb through their books and repeal unneeded regulations. This is, as he put it,…
Blog
Stop Messing with My Daughter’s Happy Meal!
There are apples and other fruit sitting around my house, and my four-year-old daughter can eat an apple anytime. By contrast, she seldom gets to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 189: Naming Your Baby
New Zealand’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has a list of names that are verboten for newborn babies.
National Center for Policy Analysis
Special Interest at Heart of CARE Act
National Center for Policy Analysis
The Wisdom of the Debt Ceiling
Even though I often disagree with his conclusions, I’ve long been a fan of New Yorker correspondent James Surowiecki. In his articles and his book,…
Blog
Mandatory Data Retention Rears its Ugly Head Again
This morning the House Judiciary Committee began markup on H.R. 1981, the “Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011,” which would among other things force…
Blog
Thousands of Jobs and Billions in Wealth Wiped Out by Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Provision
Thanks to the "conflict minerals" provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, thousands of the world's poorest people will lose their jobs. Why? Simply because they…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 188: Cat Licenses
San Diego's city government is going through tough financial times. But legislators have found a lucrative possible revenue source: the city’s 373,000 cats. The city…
National Center for Policy Analysis
False Prophets of Debt-Ceiling Doom
If I didn’t know any better, I’d be on the lookout Tuesday for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. With Aug. 2 just around the…
Blog
Government Promoted the Risky Non-Traditional Mortgages that Triggered the Financial Crisis
Ed Pinto, who was an executive at Fannie Mae long before it went into the toilet and nearly took the financial system down with it,…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 187: Pedicabs
The DC City Council wants to require pedicab passengers to wear seatbelts.
Blog
More Confusion on Breast Cancer Screening
When the federal government's Preventive Services Task Force recommended in November 2009 that most women under age 50 should stop having regular…
National Center for Policy Analysis
Inhofe Bill Would Shine Sunlight on Regulation Costs
Study
A CARE-less Rush to Regulate Alcohol
Wine, beer, and spirit wholesalers have a long history of employing state laws to secure a guaranteed slice of the market. Recent court cases have…
Blog
Killed by Regulations: New Century Brewing, RIP
Add another name to the list of the dead as a result of actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I certainly feel a…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 186: Missing Children
Covington, Kentucky police ordered a grieving grandmother to take down fliers of her missing granddaughter from city property.
Blog
Steve Wynn: Obama is the “Greatest Wet Blanket to Business and Progress and Job Creation in My Lifetime”
Even Democratic businessmen are getting disenchanted with the Obama administration and its knee-jerk hostility to anything that creates jobs or wealth. Las Vegas mogul…
National Center for Policy Analysis
Dodd-Frank’s Fannie Trap
One year ago today, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Despite the “Wall Street” moniker, the tentacles of Dodd-Frank’s…
National Center for Policy Analysis
Failure is Not a (Government) Option
At his press conference on the debt ceiling negotiations, President Obama lamented that he’d rather “be talking about stuff that everybody welcomes, like new [government]…
National Center for Policy Analysis
One Year Later: Frank-Dodd “Reform” Leaves Fannie and Freddie Intact
Blog
Competitors: Stop That Merger!
Real competition happens in the market. Not in Washington.
National Center for Policy Analysis
Put a Ceiling on Overregulation
President Barack Obama may have inadvertently revealed one area of common ground with the Republicans during his recent news conference laying out sharp differences with…
Blog
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Nominee Richard Cordray Supports Price Controls and Borrower Bailouts
Last Thursday, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau architect Elizabeth Warren insisted that her priority was not to ban certain…
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