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
The week in regulations: Waters of the United States and ASCII formatting
The country reflected on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. President Trump promised a $5,000 check to every American adult…
Blog
The week in regulations: Honey taxes and airline delays
August’s job numbers were better than expected. President Trump threatened to cut off trade to all nations that export more to America than they…
Washington Examiner
It took 410 days to build the Empire State Building. Today, the EPA wouldn’t even pass the blueprint
When Congress gets back from its August recess, bipartisan permitting reform talks are expected to continue. There’s no reason…
Search Posts
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Morning Media Summary
Tech: LimeWire Resurrected By Secret Dev Team: “Last month, the Gnutella-based file-sharing client LimeWire was effectively outlawed after a U.S. federal judge granted…
Investors' Business Daily
Tax Preparers Shouldn’t Get IRS Favors
Taxes are big business. And not just for the federal government, which collects over $1 trillion per year in income tax revenue alone. Because the…
Blog
USDA Puts Fox in Charge of Guarding the Hen House
A proposed new rule from the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration is one more example of obscure regulatory agencies run amok. What makes…
Blog
Massive Property Tax Increases Coming for Homeowners in Northern Virginia
Homeowners in Northern Virginia may face massive, record-setting property tax increases of 20 percent or more in the upcoming year. One reason is the EPA’s…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 157: Unlicensed Barbering
In Orange County, Florida, barbering without a license is illegal. The regulation is being enforced with armed raids.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Lamebook Sues Facebook Over Trademark Infringement. Wait, What?: “Here’s a head scratcher, at first glance at least: Lamebook , a hilarious advertising-supported…
Blog
An End to Out-of-State Beer?
Would you be steamed if you couldn’t buy Anchor Steam (of San Francisco, CA), or go into a flying rage without Flying Dog (of Maryland)?…
Blog
Liquor Privatization Still has Hope in Washington
As my colleague Angela Logomasini wrote in a post earlier today, voters in Washington State vetoed two measures that would have privatized liquor sales in…
Blog
Smart Growth Decreases Housing Affordability
Wendell Cox had an interesting article this week on his new findings on land-use regulation and housing prices. Long a critic of smart-growth…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: People have “right to be forgotten” online, says EU: “The European Commission wants to strengthen data protection rules to give more power…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Reining in the regulatory state
The Las Vegas Review-Journal discusses Wayne Crews's research on the size of the federal regulatory state. Congress passed and the president signed into law…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 156: Happy Meals
With an 8-3 vote, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors banned the greatest menace facing it or any other city: happy meals.
Blog
Will the NLRB Push Big Labor’s Agenda?
Organized labor expended enormous amounts of resources and effort to give Democrats control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008. For this…
Study
The 2010 Union Pension Bailout Bills
Get ready to give some of your hard-earned cash – again – to the cronies of Congress who are pushing for yet another bailout. Two…
Blog
Feminist Porn Director Supports Freedom of Individual Choice
Porn actress, director, and self-described “kinky feminist,” Madison Young, spoke out in an interview with Salon.com about her feelings in the condom debate that…
Blog
Election 2010: Union Losses, Worker Gains
Yesterday’s election results will make it much more difficult for organized labor to advance its agenda in Congress. This is good news for the American…
Blog
Private Liquor in Virginia Off the Menu… For Now
Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell announced last Friday he would not be holding a special session in order to act upon his Virginia liquor store…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Amazon’s 3G Kindle leaps ‘Great Firewall of China’: “Amazon’s Kindle 3G e-reader is being snapped up on China’s grey market as it…
Blog
Halloween Roundup
Silly string forbidden in Hollywood on Halloween, man arrested for wearing a mask, plus more.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 155: Miniskirts
Police officers would be tasked with paying close attention to women’s hemlines; no doubt many already do. Women who catch an officer’s eye could be…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Captcha adverts capture your attention: “IT IS an online advertiser’s dream. Some ads on the websites you visit could soon be impossible…
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
Drug Approvals and Deadly Delays
Full Document Available in PDF Truth can be stranger…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Free E-Books, With a Catch – Advertising: “Barnes & Noble may kick off a fresh price war today…
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
Morning Scan – Free Checking
Blog
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…
Blog
The Nobel Case for Immigration
In today's American Spectator, my colleague Alex Nowrasteh and I make the case for expanding skilled immigration.
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
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…
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
The End of Free Checking?
Blog
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."…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
SEC ‘Proxy Access’ Rule Could Empower Unions, Political Activists
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
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…
Blog
New CEI Podcast — October 21, 2010: Relic of Prohibition
CEI Director of Insurance Studies Michelle Minton analyzes proposals to privatize Virginia's liquor stores.
Blog
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…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- 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