CEI Releases Pro-Growth Regulatory Reform Agenda for the 119th Congress

This year will see a new political trifecta take power in Washington D.C., presenting a historic opportunity to dismantle the corrosive federal bureaucracy that has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, stifling innovation, burdening businesses, and eroding the freedoms and opportunities that define the American dream.
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) unveiled a comprehensive set of policy reforms for the 119th Congress, aimed at promoting economic growth by reducing regulatory barriers for consumers and businesses. The report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 119th Congress, provides specific policy recommendations for the new Congress to address the pressing challenges facing our nation.
Now is the time to downsize the administrative state and bring about restraint, transparency, and accountability. According to CEI’s most recent count, federal agencies issued 46 rules for every law passed by Congress in 2024. The average U.S. household pays nearly $16,000 each year in a hidden regulatory tax. Although Article I of the Constitution mandates that all law-making powers be held by Congress, regulators have consistently overreached and claimed more power on every issue from energy to trade.
You don’t elect them, you don’t know who they are, and you don’t even really know what they do. Yet, these unelected bureaucrats in various alphabet soup agencies make decisions every day that undermine our economic security, consumer choice, and individual liberty.
The CEI Agenda for Congress outlines steps for Congress to reclaim its legislative authority, identifying 15 policy areas to reform:
- Government Efficiency – Pass the REINS Act to require congressional approval for major agency rules.
- Constitutional Restoration – Amend the Administrative Procedure Act to eliminate the adjudicatory authority of federal agencies.
- Inflation – Enact a monetary policy rule for the Federal Reserve to ensure long-term price stability.
- Healthcare – Allow the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to expire in 2025.
- Energy and Environment – Officially withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
- Banking and Finance – Make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accountable to Congress.
- Corporate Governance – Amend securities laws to limit the SEC’s ability to impose politically motivated disclosure requirements.
- Labor and Employment – Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow workers to register as freelancers.
- Transportation – Repeal the Jones Act.
- Antitrust – Place antitrust enforcement in one agency, the Department of Justice, and remove antitrust authority from the Federal Trade Commission.
- Artificial Intelligence – Encourage evidence-based regulatory approaches and resist calls for sweeping AI legislation.
- Online Speech – Oppose efforts to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- Telecommunications – Prioritize reauthorization of the FCC’s auction authority to move more spectrum to its best and highest use, which will promote market competition and innovation.
- Civil Asset Forfeiture – Pass the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act to reform the forfeiture system to make it less abusive, more equitable.
- Trade - Support tariff relief and work to reassert Congress’s authority, too long unduly delegated to the executive branch.