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
This week in ridiculous regulations: airline fees and greenhouse gas reporting
The Federal Register grew at nearly triple its usual pace last week. It is on pace for its first-ever 100,000-page year. GDP growth slowed to…
The Center Square
Study: Mixed record on permitting reform offers some hope
CEI’s James Broughel provided comments to The Center Square about a study he authored: “Pennsylvania’s a state where energy is very important to its…
Forbes
Libertarian Victory: You Mean We Can Shut Down Government Without Even Passing A Law?
It is happening again. Congress will enact another bloated, pork-laden and largely unread omnibus spending bill to complete formal appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year…
Search Posts
Blog
Stimulating the COVID Recovery without Trillions in Spending
Over at Inside Sources, I make the case that deregulation, freer trade, and continued vaccinations will do more to open up the economy than…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Unemployment is back under 6 percent, and it’s looking more and more like the economy is reverting back to trend. We’re not there yet, but…
The Wall Street Journal
Flying the Politically Correct Skies
The Wall Street Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Biden’s federal budget: Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute …
Forbes
Post-Covid Warning: Fence Federal Regulation and Spending Before the Next Economic Shock
Does it make sense as an ongoing tenet of public policy to regard a few weeks or months of business disruption, like that characterizing the…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
CEI’s Wayne Crews looked at the Biden administration’s dismantling transparency reforms for guidance documents and warned that political spending on scientific research would…
Blog
EPA Follows Through on Biden Directive to Hide Guidance Documents from the Public
Before President Joe Biden signed an executive order called Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation that, among much else, instructed federal agencies…
News Release
Some Good News in April 2021 Job Numbers
The unemployment rate didn’t budge much in April, according to just-released data from the Labor Department, but CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins…
Marketplace
Democrats In Congress In No Hurry To Overturn Trump-Era Regulations
Marketplace cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on regulatory reform: Mario Loyola at the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that’s because Republicans were on the same…
Forbes
Laws Have Mercy: Here is How Biden is Restricting Access to Regulatory Guidance Documents
A significant component of Joe Biden’s first 100 days has been the rapid reversal and work-in-process unwinding of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to…
Las Vegas Review Journal
EDITORIAL: Infrastructure Package Meets Federal Red Tape
The Las Vegas Review-Journal cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on Biden’s infrastructure plan: The projects that might survive the legislative process as part of…
Bloomberg Law
Biden Infrastructure Plan Has Unlikely Ally in Trump Permit Redo
Bloomberg Law cites Senior Fellow Mario Loyola on Biden’s infrastructure plan: Mario Loyola, who served as CEQ’s associate director for regulatory reform during the…
News Release
CEI Commends Sen. Lankford for Introducing Pandemic Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Act
On Thursday, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the Pandemic Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Act. The bill would establish an independent commission to…
National Affairs
Putting Regulators on a Budget
National Affairs cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the cost of regulation: Separately, in 2015, regulatory analyst Clyde Wayne Crews from the…
Washington Examiner
Congress must reassert its legislative authority
It is tempting to claim that resource allocation questions are starker than ever. The classic formulation in political science is guns or…
News Release
CEI Offers Reform Ideas to Congress Aimed at Fostering Resilience and Promoting Economic Renewal
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) offered a set of policy reform goals for the 117th Congress focused on economic stimulus and regulatory…
Products
Free to Prosper: Banking and Finance
View the full chapter on banking and finance here Access to capital, credit, and financial services are fundamental to the operation of a free…
Products
Free to Prosper: Labor and Employment
View the full chapter on labor and employment here Increases in productivity, not artificial increases in labor prices, are the key to economic growth…
Products
Free to Prosper: Regulatory Reform
Read the full chapter on regulatory reform here The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things. One of those things is regulation. People quickly…
Products
Free to Prosper: Technology and Telecommunications
View the full chapter on technology and telecommunications here Few economic sectors rival the technology and telecommunications industries in how rapidly—and momentously—they have evolved.
Products
Free to Prosper: Food, Drugs, and Consumer Freedom
View the full chapter on food, drugs, and consumer freedom here Few matters are as important to individuals as the foods they eat, how…
Products
Free to Prosper: Medical Technology and Health Care
View the full chapter on medical technology and health care here American consumers benefit from a bounty of choice, competition, and innovation in health…
Products
Free to Prosper: Trade
View the full chapter on trade here The new Congress has two urgent tasks on trade policy. First, it needs to help heal the…
Products
Free to Prosper: Transportation
View the full chapter on transportation here Mobility is one of our most important needs, one we often take for granted until it is…
Products
Free to Prosper: Energy and Environment
View the full chapter on energy and environment here REJECT THE GREEN NEW DEAL AND SIMILAR CENTRAL PLANNING SCHEMES The Green New Deal (GND),…
The Washington Times
With an Eye on Prosperity
The Washington Times cites CEI’s publication, Free to Prosper, and related online event: The Competitive Enterprise Institute will release “Free to Prosper,” a policy…
National Review
Tyrannosaurus Regs and Regulatory Dark Matter: Biden’s Accountability Deficit on Regulation
Washington’s new motto is: When you run out of other people’s money, keep spending anyway. It’s a sad state of affairs when a national debt …
Forbes
The Best American Rescue Plan Is An “Abuse-Of-Crisis Prevention Act”
If limits exist that constrain politicians and the legislation they can enact in the name of crisis, rescue or stimulus, it is unclear what they…
Politico
Biden Won’t Release White House Virtual Visitor Logs
Politico cites CEI’s 2020 edition of 10 Thousand Commandments by Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews: In addition, Republican lawmakers have…
The Western Journal
Trump Program Saved $160 Billion, Cut Regulatory Costs 90% – Biden Killed It
The Western Journal cites Vice President for Policy on the impact of President Biden’s regulatory actions: “I don’t think progressives think regulations have any…
Fox Business
Biden on Day 1 Scrapped Trump Rule that Helped US Save $160 Billion: Report
Fox Business cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulations and the Biden administration: But Clyde Wayne Crews, a vice president with the…
The Washington Times
Biden Overturned Trump Deregulation Rule That Saved U.S. $160 Billion: Analysis
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulations and the Biden administration: “Biden has jettisoned … most of what Trump…
News Release
CEI Backs Sen. Johnson’s Call for President Biden to Re-Instate Transparency in Agency Guidance Executive Order
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and 20 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Biden, requesting he reverse his decision to overturn Executive Order 13,891,…
Las Vegas Review Journal
EDITORIAL: Regulatory benefits that are ‘impossible’ to quantify
The Las Vegas Review Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews and CEI’s “10 Thousand Commandments”: Needless to say, President Joe Biden and…
Forbes
The 2021 “Unconstitutionality Index”: 19 Federal Rules And Regulations For Every Law Congress Passes
Even in a presidential administration bent on cutting regulation like the one that just decamped for Florida, the number of rules from hundreds of federal…
Reason
Biden Tells Federal Bureaucrats To Approve Regulations With Benefits That Are ‘Impossible To Quantify’
Reason cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden’s latest directive: “The aim is to put weight on the scales of whether…
Reason
Biden Tells Federal Bureaucrats To Approve Regulations With Benefits That Are ‘Impossible To Quantify’
Reason cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the regulatory state under President Biden: “The aim is to put weight on the scales…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing H.R. 1 and S.R. 1
View Full Article as PDF Dear Speaker Pelosi, Republican Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader Schumer, and Republican Leader McConnell, On behalf of the millions…
World Net Daily
Overlooked Biden Executive Order Could Have Greatest Harmful Impact
World Net Daily cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulatory reform: Clyde Wayne Crews, a regulation expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Forbes
Biden Repudiates Trump Era With Revocation Of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation
As part of a “Day One” “flurry” of executive action, President Joe Biden issued an “Executive Order on Revocation of Certain…
Citation
Let Them Learn
The Wall Street Journal cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” plan: In the meantime, Wayne Crews at the Competitive…
E&E News
Biden Signals ‘New Direction’ On Regulations
E&E News cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on President Biden’s regulatory review process: Wayne Crews, an analyst at the conservative Competitive Enterprise…
The Washington Examiner
Biden’s Quest to Reverse Trump-Era Environmental Rollbacks Could Take Years
The Washington Examiner cites Director of the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell on regulatory reform and the Biden administration: “Changing the direction…
Forbes
Status Report: What Regulations Did The Trump Administration Eliminate In 2020?
Bookending four years of its infamous one-in, two-out requirement for issuing significant new regulations, the Trump administration quietly just released its status roundup called “…
Washington Examiner
Biden Poised to Be the Biggest Regulator in History
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on regulatory reform: “Biden has signaled in all areas that the Trump regime, such…
Forbes
Donald Trump’s Year In Regulation, 2020
Today, Thursday, December 31, is the last federal workday of 2020. This presents the opportunity to review the heft of the Federal Register and its roundup of…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2020 election is finally, mercifully, over. Barring a surprise in the Georgia Senate runoffs, we will continue to have divided government. This arrangement typically…
Forbes
Some Trump Executive Orders On Regulation Need To Be Kept No Matter What
Some see federal regulatory intervention as unaccountable and unrestrained. That was and remains a key focus of the Donald Trump reform agenda. Executive orders addressing…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2024 election season officially began on Wednesday. The 2020 Federal Register topped 70,000 pages right on election day, and is on pace to be…
EP NewsWire
COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Record GDP Numbers: Good News and Next Steps
EP NewsWire cites CEI senior fellows Iain Murray and Ryan Young on economy and regulations. Ryan Young, CEI Senior Fellow: “Most of the talk…
Blog
The 2020 Election Actually Had Some Free-Market Victories
Neither presidential candidate has much interest in limited government. But over at National Review, I look at some neglected down-ballot victories…
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