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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Ten Thousand Commandments 2025 is out now
The 2025 edition of CEI’s flagship report, Ten Thousand Commandments, is out today. For more than 30 years, my colleague Wayne Crews has been…
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Free the Economy podcast: Reforming Washington’s 10,000 Commandments with Wayne Crews
In this week’s episode we cover the political roots of totalitarianism, why we should put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out to…
Study
Ten Thousand Commandments 2025
Introduction Record federal debt is contributing to record-setting regulatory burdens. While new spending programs show up in budget figures, new regulations requiring the private sector…
Search Posts
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Obamacare to Wipe Out 800,000 Jobs Through Work Disincentives
Obamacare is going to wipe out 800,000 jobs through its disincentives to work. That contrasts sharply with false claims by House Speaker Nancy…
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The Stealthy Public Pension Time Bomb
As state and local government budgets have come under increasing stress, greater public attention has come to focus on government employees’ compensation. This greater scrutiny…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Privacy Commissioner slams data retention: “The Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has slammed the Federal Government’s proposed data retention law and called…
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Washington Subway Terrorist Bomb Plot Leads to Arrest
Federal authorities arrested Farooque Ahmed for plotting to bomb the Washington Metro subway system. Ahmed, who immigrated from Pakistan, “conspired with people he thought…
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Marlo Lewis on Hyundai’s Zero Emission Advertisment
Hyundai’s newest advertisement features their attempts at producing a “green” commercial. One of Hyundai’s slogans is “Prepare to want one,” yet as Marlo Lewis notes…
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An Alcohol-Caffeine Ban Won’t Work
The genie is out of the bottle. Mixing energy drinks and distilled spirits has become a popular trend in the U.S., particularly, among college age…
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Sen. Grassley’s Selective Crusade Against Conflicts of Interest
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) has been on a tear lately, badgering the Food and Drug Administration about whether it's doing enough to crack down on…
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CBO: Obamacare Discourages Work
Even the Congressional Budget Office, which allowed supporters of Obamacare to hide its costs through gimmicks and dodges, admitted last “Friday that…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Are texting and Facebook worse for teens than TV?: “Which raises an interesting question: Is Facebook really worse for teenagers’ brains than…
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My Role Model, Jenna Jameson
As a self-made business mogul, a mother and wife, and a cancer survivor, there are many aspects of Jenna Jameson to admire and emulate.
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Free E-Books, With a Catch – Advertising: “Barnes & Noble may kick off a fresh price war today…
Citation
Morning Scan – Free Checking
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Something (Useful) for the FTC to Do
I took a class at George Mason University with economist Tyler Cowen on industrial organization (IO).1 My apologies to Dr. Cowen…
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The Nobel Case for Immigration
In today's American Spectator, my colleague Alex Nowrasteh and I make the case for expanding skilled immigration.
Op-Eds
The Free Checking Restoration Act
Having largely abandoned attempts to defend ObamaCare in the run-up to next week’s election, President Obama and his allies are now warning that opponents will…
Citation
The End of Free Checking?
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Regulation of the Day 154: Potatoes in School Lunches
The children are not pleased. One child told the Associated Press, "That would be so not cool. I love tater tots."…
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Insurance Lessons from Alabama
While Alabama certainly has some ambiguous laws and archaic regulations, the federal government ought to take a lesson from Alabama when it comes…
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Unemployment Jumps Under Obama, Pelosi, and Reid
Unemployment averaged about 5.2 percent under both Clinton and Bush, but rose to an average of 9.43 percent under Obama (the current rate…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Bees’ tiny brains beat computers, study finds: “Bees can solve complex mathematical problems which keep computers busy for days, research has…
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New CEI Podcast — October 25, 2010: Regulating Every Room
CEI's Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies Ben Lieberman explains how new energy regulations affect every room in your house, from the basement to the bathroom…
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Obamacare: More Broken Promises, More Premium Hikes, More Lost Health Insurance
In The Washington Times, Dr. Milton R. Wolf debunks six “unkeepable Obamacare promises” that have already been shown to be false. For example, President…
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Bailout of Fannie and Freddie Will Cost Double Earlier Estimates
The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cost double earlier estimates, and could cost $363 billion over the next three years, report…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google in new partnership with the Post: “We live in an evolving market and is going from being a letter to the…
Citation
SEC ‘Proxy Access’ Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists
Op-Eds
Obama’s War on Free Checking
“Free checking as we know it is ending,” says the lead paragraph of a widely read and tweeted story from The Associated Press. Noting…
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New CEI Podcast — October 21, 2010: Relic of Prohibition
CEI Director of Insurance Studies Michelle Minton analyzes proposals to privatize Virginia's liquor stores.
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General Motors’ Losses Hidden by Deferral of Union Pension Obligations
Any General Motors bonds issued this year will be classified as junk by a key ratings agency. Why? There’s some risk GM will go…
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The Free Checking Restoration Act of 2011
“Free checking as we know it is ending,” says the lead paragraph of a widely-read and tweeted story this week from the Associated Press.
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More Stimulus Money Wasted
A lot of money was wasted in weatherization projects paid for by the stimulus package, note The New York Times Green Blog and Professor…
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More Support for Privatization of Virginia Liquor Sales
Yesterday, the Virginia Retail Federation (the advocacy arm of the Retail Alliance and the Retail Merchants Association) came out in support of privatizing liquor…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Canada Says Google Wi-Fi Sniffing Collected Personal Data: “Canada’s privacy commissioner said Tuesday that Google’s recent Wi-Fi sniffing was a serious violation…
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Medical Trial and Error
The Atlantic has an interesting profile of medical researcher John Ioannidis, who famously concluded in a groundbreaking 2005 study that the scientific conclusions of most…
Citation
The Free Checking Restoration Act of 2010
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“Rent Is Too Damn High” Candidate’s Rent is Actually Quite Low
Oh look, a politician building a campaign on the premise that he understands his constituents’ plight is actually…very far removed from the issues that are…
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Obamacare Will Spawn Crowded Waiting Rooms and Pointless Busywork for Doctors
Health care costs will go up under Obamacare for many reasons, such as the wasteful red tape it imposes on health savings accounts (HSAs). Max…
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Exploiting the Poor: The Minimum Wage
Many people believe that the minimum wage is a major source of America’s prosperity. Actually as of 2009 only 4.9 percent of (employed) workers…
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Rent Is Too Damn High
Not much to add to this brilliant insight: The rent is too damn high! Jimmy McMillan doesn’t get into details about what he intends…
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Say Goodbye to Free Checking
“Say goodbye to traditional free checking, as banks feel squeeze from new regulations,” reads the AP headline. “Free checking, a mainstay of American banking…
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Morning Media Summar
Tech: Privacy vs. Profits: “The threat to privacy posed by digital technology is about to take a turn for the worse. At least,…
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Your Shriveling 401(K): Thank Financial Red Tape and the Foreclosure Furor
If your 401(K) has shrunken recently, it may be due to falling bank stocks, like Bank of America stock, which has fallen from over $19…
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Building Height Restrictions: Where I Agree with Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress links to a Washington Post article that notes that office rents in downtown D.C. are now…
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Meager Part-Time Work Masks Unemployment
Unemployment is often masked by part-time work, since people who would prefer to work full-time are not treated as unemployed by government statistics if they…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: The World is Full of Interesting Things: “That’s the name of a brilliant slideshow created by Google’s Creative Labs. You’ll find a…
News Release
Experts Urge Michigan’s Next Governor to Reform Insurance Regulations
Contact: Lee Doren, 202-331-2259 Washington, D.C., October 19, 2010 – Michigan’s next governor has his work cut out for him. It is no secret that…
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Killed by Pension Accounting
Think accounting rules are a boring topic? You wouldn’t if the fate of your business rested on it. Indeed, a rule change may be coming…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Facebook in Privacy Breach: “Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting…
Op-Eds
Delaying Foreclosures Only Adds to Pain
Federal housing promotion policies over-stimulated the supply and demand for housing and that destabilization continues. Efforts to make home ownership a “human right” are partly…
Blog
Restricting What People Eat, Based on the Ignorance of Food Snobs
There are increasing calls for the government to restrict salty food and fast-food restaurants, and tax fast food, to curb obesity. This is especially true…
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Obamacare Results in 47 Percent Premium Hike
Obamacare has just led to a 47 percent increase in some health insurance premium rates in Connecticut: The state’s largest insurer has been approved to…
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Regulation of the Day 153: Pentagon Cybersecurity
The military’s cybersecurity experts are governed by 193 documents. They are all conveniently listed in a chart. It is two feet long.
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Judge Rejects Obama Administration’s Motion to Dismiss Challenge to Obamacare
A judge in Florida has rejected the Obama administration’s motion to dismiss challenges to Obamacare brought by 20 state attorneys general and the…
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: Putting the squeeze on the broadband copper robbers: “When we think of tech crime, we tend to imagine hackers cooking up exploits…
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Government Workers Oppose Cuts in Government Jobs…Really
It turns out that government workers have a vested interest in opposing cuts in government jobs. Who knew, right? The Washington Examiner today ran…
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CEI Podcast — October 14, 2010: Antitrust Follies and Regulatory Reform
CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews talks about why antitrust actually hurts competition, and offers some ideas for regulatory reform.
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Stop Coddling Mortgage Deadbeats
Right now, there’s a big manufactured outrage over the fact that at a few banks, paperwork errors occurred in foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal…
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Ben Lieberman on Government Regulations
Watch the video on YouTube…
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning’s media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
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McDonald’s 6-Month-Old Burger is a Triumph, Not a Terror
To prove a friend wrong, New York artist Sally Davies left a happy meal out on her counter for six months. Yesterday, several media…
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Regulation of the Day 152: Locking Your Car Door
The government of Bucks County, Pennsylvania plans to issue $25 fines to people who forget to lock their cars.
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Wayne Crews in The Washington Times
Wayne Crews has an op-ed in today’s Washington Times titled, “The Tyranny of the Unelected.” He writes, The year’s Federal Register – the daily depository…
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Fox Business: Government Is Burning Our Money
Americans are peeved about the economy. Or, 85 percent of us are, according to an ABC News article. So, we need government to…
Op-Eds
Tyranny of the Unelected
Congress passed and the president signed 125 bills into law in 2009. Your tireless federal regulatory agencies were even busier: They issued 3,503 rules and…
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CEI Weekly: United Auto Workers Shut Down GM Plant
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI staff. This week features Vincent Vernuccio's October 1st interview on Fox Business' Varney &…
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning’s media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
Blog
Bootleggers and Baptists Everywhere
Bruce Yandle’s insight of how erstwhile alliances of “Bootleggers and Baptists” help drive state intervention into economic matters is extremely useful when looking at…
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Private Employers Cut 39,000 Jobs in September
The private sector shed 39,000 jobs in September. Liberal journalists claim this was “unexpected.” This reveals their shaky grasp of economics. If you…
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Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning's media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
Blog
If You Like Your Health Plan, You May Lose It Anyway
Another major employer, 3M, has decided to “eventually stop offering its health insurance plan to retirees, citing the federal health overhaul as a factor.”…
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Supreme Court Is Neither Pro-Business Nor Conservative
The Supreme Court is not a particularly conservative court. It rules against businesses more than the lower federal courts do, and its rulings have overturned…
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Fred Smith Featured in Politico’s “Answer This”
Fred Smith was profiled today in Politico‘s “Answer This” column by Patrick Gavin. Here are a few highlights: What’s a common and accepted practice for…
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Virginia ABC Store Privatization: Improving Plan, Dimming Political Support
When Virginia’s governor Bob McDonnell’s unveiled his plans for privatizing the state-run liquor sales system nobody was terribly thrilled. The plan’s basic outline (as I…
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Obamacare May Force McDonald’s to Drop Health Coverage for Employees
Michelle Malkin points out that “McDonald’s has notified the feds that it may be forced to drop health insurance for some 30,000 workers due…
Citation
SEC “Proxy Access” Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists and Undermine Investors
Op-Eds
Washington Ideas Forum
Study
Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB: Narrow Separation-of-Powers Ruling Illustrates That the Supreme Court Is Not ‘‘Pro-Business’’
Full Document Available in PDF Chief Justice John Roberts has often been depicted as an advocate of narrow rulings and a judicial philosophy…
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The Failed Stimulus Package Reveals What Economy Really Needs
A failure can make for a valuable learning experience, and the stimulus package is no exception. Clearly the stimulus has not worked, and from…
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22,000 Lose Their Health Insurance Due to Obamacare
Approximately 22,000 senior citizens just lost their health plan with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which dropped its Medicare Advantage Program due to “cuts in…
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New EPA Rules Will Cost More than 800,000 Jobs
New EPA rules will cost more than 800,000 jobs, probably far more, according to a newly released congressional report. That includes the EPA’s…
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Using Government to Weed Out Competitors
In states throughout the country, beverage distributors are stepping into the political ring and in every case the opponent is the same: competition. Since prohibition,…
Op-Eds
Response to How Would GOP’s ‘Pledge’ Affect Economy? – Pledge Takes On Overregulation
Though much of the commentary on the GOP’s “Pledge to America” has forcused on the areas of taxes and spending, the provision that may contain…
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An Unpaid Internship at the White House
@whitehouse on Twitter alerted me this morning that applications for internships at the White House are due by October 3. I couldn’t help but look…
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Regulation of the Day 151: Water Heaters
The EPA recommends setting your water heater to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. But OSHA recommends setting it to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Why the difference?…
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An Annoying Regulation for Every Room in the House
The Obama administration isn’t satisfied giving the American people several big things we don’t want — the stimulus package, expanded bailouts, Obamacare — but it…
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CEI Weekly: Congress Should Liberate to Stimulate
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features John Berlau's debate with Heather Boushey from the Center for…
Op-Eds
No Regulation Without Representation
Having excoriated the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress — on this site and elsewhere — for falling short of principles on TARP…
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CEI Podcast – September 23, 2010: The Frankenfish Myth
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko, author of The Frankenfood Myth, talks about the promise and imagined peril of genetically modified salmon.
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GOP “Pledge to America” Includes Constructive Reg Reform
The House Republican “Pledge to America” unveiled today has been criticized by RedState’s Erick Erickson and other center-right pundits for a lack of specifics.
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Obama Financial Czar Appointment Is Unconstitutional, Liberal Law Professor Says
Obama has appointed controversial Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren to informally run the powerful, newly-created Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection that will regulate the…
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Many Free Checking Accounts Disappearing Due to Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Law
The so-called financial “reform” bill that passed Congress — the Dodd-Frank Act — is wiping out many free checking accounts, since…
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Unfair ‘Paycheck Fairness Act’ Shafts Workers With Hazardous Jobs
We wrote earlier about the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill of Orwellian deception that would result in employees unfairly receiving equal pay…
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Study: Regulations Cost $1.75 Trillion in 2008
State and local regulations, of course, cost extra.
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America: Land of the Free?
Prior to arriving in America I imagined this country as being the land of the free. But somehow, it turned out this was a wrongly…
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Insurers Drop Children’s Health Insurance Due to Obamacare
Insurers have stopped writing children-only health insurance policies due to mandates in Obamacare that ignored basic principles of economics. So if…
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Distracted Driving Kills, But What About Dysfunctional Policy?
The Obama administration, having succeeded in bringing about economic recovery and having nation-built a democratic Afghanistan, has set its sights on another pressing…
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General Motors Now Admits It Didn’t Repay Bailout Money
Contrary to its claims in TV ads earlier this year, General Motors has now admitted that it did not repay…
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Insurance Regulators Approve Increases Based on Obamacare
In Connecticut, insurance rate regulators have approved hikes in insurance premiums of up to 20 percent, agreeing with insurers that…
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Senators Challenge Administration’s Big Labor Giveaway
Despite all they have gotten from the Obama administration, many union leaders have vented their frustration over Democratic lawmakers’ failure to enact the unions’ top…
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CEI Weekly: Regulations Discourage Small Businesses from Hiring
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Wayne Crews' article this week where he lists the effects…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 150: Toy Guns
Samuel Burgos is 8 years old. One day he brought a toy gun to school in his backpack. That got him expelled from his Miami…
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