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
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…
Blog
2024 Regulation roundup
All the major regulatory numbers for 2024’s new regulations are now in the books. Here are the highlights, followed by a little analysis and a preview of…
Blog
Charting a glide path to overturn Biden regulations in the 119th Congress
As the 119th Congress and incoming Trump administration prepare to govern, one key weapon in their arsenal will be the Congressional Review Act (CRA) of…
Search Posts
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…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Rumblings of a “Navarro recession” are growing louder, and the 2019 Federal Register will likely crack the 40,000-page mark early this week. Rulemaking agencies published…
Blog
VIDEO: Where the Regulatory State Came From
Our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation have a funny and insightful explainer video on the historical development of the regulatory state (also known as…
Blog
Limits of ‘Soft Law’ Approach to Tech Regulation
Can the regulation of new technology be voluntary and non-coercive? In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Mercatus Center law and technology analyst Jennifer Huddleston…
The Heartland Institute
Trump Deregulation Will Save $3,100 Per Household, CEA Reports
The Heartland Institute cites CEI’s 10kc report. “The Competitive Enterprise Institute puts the annual economic cost of federal regulations at $1.9 trillion,” Herrick…
FreedomWorks
Support the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 3972
FreedomWorks cites CEI on the cost of federal regulations. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, federal regulation cost nearly $1.9 trillion in 2017…
Inside Sources
Consumer Choice Is Not Elitist
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, thinks it’s fine that your new dishwasher takes more than 2 hours to complete a cycle — we think consumers…
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…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Agriculture, Housing, Management
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
In a pre-recess Parthian shot, the Senate passed a massive new spending bill that would increase federal spending by $320 billion over two years and…
Blog
Is White House ‘Guidance on Compliance with the Congressional Review Act’ Restraining Agency Rulemaking?
At a time of trillion dollar runaway peacetime deficits, big-spenders can take smug comfort knowing that regulation is even less disciplined, especially where ostensibly sub-regulatory…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Friends
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Congress has adjourned for its August recess, so the republic is safe for another month. Rulemaking agencies are still on the job, however, and published…
National Review
The Trump Economy
The National Review cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the 10kc report. As Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Reason
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Can’t Stay Awake During Meetings. Does That Mean It’s Time to Put His Whole Crony Capitalist Department to Rest?
Reason cites CEI’s report on the Economic Development Administration. “In the four decades since its creation, EDA has funded professional football practice facilities,…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Product Safety Commission Revisited
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington, D.C.’s flash flood was followed up by a heat wave; this week could bring even worse during Congress’ final week in session before the…
Blog
What Should the Government Do?
What Should the Government Do? In that question lies most disagreements about politics. What can governments do, and just because they can, should they? …
Newsmax
Volcker Rule Burdens Banks, Markets
Newsmax cites a recent coalition letter signed by CEI opposing the Volcker Rule. That legislative ban would seem to apply here, because as…
Politico, Morning Energy
Perry Calls Efficiency Moves ‘Common Sense’
POLITICO‘s Morning Energy cites CEI’s recent petition for increased efficiency in dishwashers. PERRY: EASING EFFICIENCY IS ‘COMMON SENSE’: DOE will publish in the Federal…
FreedomWorks
The Passenger Facility Charge Is a Market-Minded Way to Address Airport Infrastructure
FreedomWorks cites a coalition letter CEI joined advocating for eliminating the cap on PFC. This is why a group of organizations associated with…
Issues & Insights
How Bureaucrats Ruin Everything From Dishwashers To Gas Cans To Cars
Issues & Insights cites CEI’s recent petition for increased efficiency in dishwasher cycles. The DOE was responding to a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Consumer Product Safety Commission
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Marketplace
Labor Department Deregulation Expected to Pick Up Steam After Acosta
Marketplace cites Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on deregulation efforts from the Department of Labor. “He certainly took what I would say is an…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Washington, D.C. was hit by a flash flood, but agencies were still able to publish new regulations ranging from electric program procedures to Fort Ord…
Industrial Heating
Regulations – Reform and Removal
Industrial Heating cites CEI’s 10kc report. A Competitive Enterprise Institute survey found that the U.S. has $1.9 trillion in hidden taxes via federal…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week: Social Security Administration and Treasury
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going through…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
It was a four-day week for the federal government as the nation celebrated Independence Day. Meanwhile, agencies published new regulations ranging from the Paper and…
News Release
CEI Applauds DOE for Granting Its Petition to Speed Up Dishwashers
Responding to a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new rulemaking related to the problem of…
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week
Each guidance document might be small, but when there are 13,000 of them per decade, mostly without outside review or accountability, they add up. This…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
The 2019 Federal Register broke 30,000 pages last week, the Democratic presidential candidates had their first debates, and the U.S. and Chinese governments prepared for…
The Singapore Business Times
Regulating Facebook Protects Facebook
The Singapore Business Times cites a CEI report on the economy under the Obama Administration. More recently, a report by the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
‘Gundy’ Decision Could Signal Fundamental Reform of Administrative State
It is hard to describe how important the Supreme Court decision last week in Gundy v. United States is. In one sense, nothing changed—no case…
Blog
Costs of Deadweight Effects of Federal Spending and of ‘Budget’ or ‘Transfer’ Rules
Theoretically, policymakers distinguish between economic and social regulation when examining and reporting on costs, effects, and employment.
Blog
Guidance Documents of the Week
Guidance documents are statements of policy issued by your favorite alphabet soup of agencies, which more often than not translate into law, despite rarely going…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Wednesday, the day before the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 35th anniversary gala dinner, saw no new final regulations published in the Federal Register. This may be…
Blog
Australia Needs an Administrative Procedure Act
In the United States, there is an intellectual movement going on the likes of which have not been seen in nearly a century. The administrative…
Blog
For Better Policy, Congress Should Stop Punting to Executive Agencies
Yesterday the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Article I Initiative hosted a fascinating panel discussion here in Washington, D.C. about the dynamic relationship between…
Reason
Stop Treating the Government With Respect
Reason cites Senior Fellow John Berlau on regulatory agencies. Those strictures no longer look so strict. New York state’s blue-tribe government last year…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week, a Canadian team won the NBA championship for the first time, while an American team won the Stanley Cup. This week brings us…
Capitalism Magazine
Professor Stigiltz’s “Progressive Capitalism” is Neo-Socialism
Capitalism Magazine cites CEI’s 10kC report. As for government regulation of the private sector, the Competitive Enterprise Institute estimates in its latest “Ten…
The Daily Caller
LEWIS: American Prosperity is Rolling Forward – Despite Impeachment-Obsessed Democrats
The Daily Caller cites CEI’s 10kC report. By the end of 2016, there were over 95,000 pages in the Federal Register — the most…
Washington Free Beacon
Obama EPA Head: Tired of Hearing Trump EPA Helps Manufacturers
The Washington Free Beacon cites CEI’s report on the Trump administation’s deregulatory record. At the beginning of 2019, a report from the D.C.-based think tank…
Forbes
Is America Losing Its Small Businesses?
Forbes cites CEI on federal agency regulations. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the agencies of the federal government in 2015, the year…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
While the administration is so far keeping to its one-in, two-out policy for proposed rules, new trade and antitrust policies are likely to increase net…
Reason
Will Trump’s Authoritarian Impulses Derail His Deregulatory Successes?
Reason cites Vice President of Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on CEI’s “Ten Thousand Commandments” report. But there are warning signs that…
The Washington Times
Trump ‘Administrative State’ Rollback Fails To Lower $2 Trillion Annual Cost Of Regulation
The Washington Times cites Vice President of Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on the cost of federal regulations. Federal regulations were costing…
Fox Business
Trump Early Efforts on Deregulation Could Pave Way For Increased Executive Activity: Study
Fox Business cites Vice President of Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on the Trump Administration’s record on deregulation. While he…
The Washington Examiner
‘Swamp’ Thwarts Trump With $1.9T ‘Hidden Tax’ In Regulations
The Washington Examiner cites Vice President of Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on CEI’s “Ten Thousand Commandments” report. The Competitive Enterprise Institute said…
Blog
Regulations Trump Administration Has Eliminated So Far in 2019
The Trump administration promised to roll back red tape. So how goes 2019? The 2019 Spring Unified Agenda of Deregulatory and Regulatory Actions released by the…
The Washington Times
Burdensome Federal Regulations Are ‘Hidden Tax’ Which Cost $1.9 Trillion: Study
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow Wayne Crews on CEI’s “Ten Thousand Commandments” report. The national debt is not the…
The Times Herald
Jerry Shenk: Regulatory Taxation Burdens us All
The Times Herald cites CEI’s 10kc report. In their review of the cost of government regulations for 2018, the Competitive Enterprise Institute estimated…
Blog
Will Antitrust End Trump’s Deregulatory Push?
Revelations that antitrust enforcers have conspired to divide jurisdiction and initiate antitrust investigations into Google and Apple (the U.S. Department of Justice) and Amazon and…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
President Trump threatened a new tariff on all Mexican goods, potentially scuttling the NAFTA/USMCA agreement. My colleague Wayne Crews went through the new Spring 2019…
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