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Chapter 13: Getting things undone: An agenda for rightsizing Washington
We close with an appeal to restore enumerated powers. This would solve the overregulation dilemma, and would have prevented it in the first place. Reforms…
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Chapter 7: Unified Agenda of regulatory actions
Along with the Report to Congress, the Federal Register, and the Code of Federal Regulations, another vehicle for regulatory disclosure is the spring and fall…
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Chapter 5: Over 19,000 agency public notices annually
Presidents issue a few dozen memoranda and other proclamations each year. Departments and agencies, however, issue thousands of public notices in the Federal Register every…
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Chapter 4: Regulatory dark matter
Although executive actions are typically understood to deal with the internal operations of the federal government, they increasingly can have binding effects and influence private…
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Chapter 10: Federal rules affecting state and local governments
State and local officials’ concerns about federal mandates overriding their priorities resulted in passage of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) of 1995. The law…
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Chapter 2: Why we need a regulatory budget
Federal spending programs are funded either by taxes or by borrowing, with interest, from future tax collections. The public can readily inspect the costs of…
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Chapter 8: Economically significant rules
From 1993 until April 2023, rules with annual economic effects of at least $100 million were classified as economically significant. Biden’s EO 14094 raised the…
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Chapter 9: Federal regulations affecting small business
The National Association of Manufacturers report reaffirmed that average annual per-employee regulatory costs vary by firm size. The smaller the organization, the higher the per-employee…
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Chapter 3: Numbers of rules and page counts in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its page counts are often cited as a…
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Chapter 1: Trump 2.0: Year one and the regulatory state’s uneven reset
“It is the policy of my Administration to focus the executive branch’s limited enforcement resources on regulations squarely authorized by constitutional Federal statutes, and to…
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Chapter 11: GAO database on rules and major rules
The federal government’s regulatory reports and databases serve different but intertwined purposes. The Federal Register presents all proposed and final rules, along with numerous presidential…
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Chapter 6: A note on rule reviews at OMB
Rule reviews at OMB are a useful variable to examine alongside costs, page counts, rule counts, and guidance documents, among others. Figure 17 depicts 449…
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Chapter 12: The 2026 Unconstitutionality Index: 18 rules for every law
Article I of the Constitution vests legislative power in Congress. In practice, however, administrative agencies issue the vast majority of binding rules governing economic activity…
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Universal Service Subsidies Have Failed
Introduction In 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the indeterminacy of Section 254 (§ 254 hereafter) of the…
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Chapter 11: 2025 Unconstitutionality Index: 19 rules for every law 78
Article I of the Constitution notwithstanding, administrative agencies, not Congress, do most of America’s lawmaking. Congress enacts weighty legislation but delegates the details to agencies.
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Chapter 4: Regulatory dark matter
Although executive actions are typically supposed to deal with the internal operations of the federal government, they increasingly can have binding effect and influence private…
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Chapter 3: Numbers of rules and page counts in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its page counts are often cited as a…
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Chapter 2: Why we need a regulatory budget
The federal government publicly discloses its fiscal costs. It does not disclose most of its regulatory costs. Federal spending programs are funded either by taxes…
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Chapter 7:Unified Agenda of regulatory actions
Along with the Report to Congress, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, another vehicle for regulatory disclosure is the spring and fall editions of…
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Chapter 12: An agenda for rightsizing Washington
Rule counts regularly topped 4,000 in the 1990s. That is the wrong comparison for Biden-era lower rule counts. Those fewer rules have higher costs, are…
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Chapter 5: Well over 20,000 agency public notices annually
Presidents issue a few dozen memoranda and other proclamations each year. Departments and agencies issue thousands. These include guidance documents, notices, memoranda, letters, bulletins, action…
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Chapter 6: A note on rule reviews at OMB
OMB’s Biden-era shift to regulatory advocacy, particularly since the Circular A-4 rewrite, diminishes what can be gleaned from EO 12866 rule reviews. Nonetheless, like pages…
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Chapter 1: Biden’s whole-of-government push
Let’s be clear, Kamala and I came into office determined to transform how the economy works—change the way it literally functions. —Joe Biden, September 23,…
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Chapter 8: Federal regulations affecting small business
The aforementioned National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) report found that average annual per-employee regulatory costs to firms vary by firm size. The smaller the firm,…
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Chapter 10: GAO database on rules and major rules
The federal government’s regulatory reports and databases serve different purposes. The Federal Register presents all proposed and final rules, along with numerous presidential documents and…
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Chapter 9: Federal rules affecting state and local governments
State and local officials’ concerns over federal mandates’ overriding their own priorities resulted in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) of 1995. It requires Congressional…
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Modernizing the EPA: Key Issues at a Glance
This section lists the key issues discussed in the book that Congress should address. Below these issues are specific recommendations for how Congress can address…
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Modernizing Chemical Regulations and Other Critical Regulatory Issues
This chapter examines the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that implement several environmental statutes: The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which regulates the production, importation,…
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Modernizing Air Regulation
The United States has clean air. Over 50 years ago, nobody could have accurately made this claim. However, for decades, the nation’s air quality has…
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Modernizing Water Regulation
Improving and protecting the nation’s water quality has been one of the hallmark achievements of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Office of Water…
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Introduction
Over a year ago, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) decided to undertake a major project to reform the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other agencies could…
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Modernizing EPA Science Policies
“Science is the foundation that supports all of our work at EPA,” the first sentence of the agency’s Peer Review Handbook declares. The document continues:…
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Modernizing the EPA: Beyond Regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory power warrants most of the attention when it comes to modernizing the agency. However, there are numerous non-regulatory programs…
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The Constitutionality of Presidential Impoundment
President Trump wants to cut federal spending, but the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 stands in his way. The law prohibits the president from reducing…
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Julia Sand – Letter 14
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Julia Sand – Letter 20
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Julia Sand – Letter 5
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Julia Sand – Letter 12
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Julia Sand – Letter 2
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Julia Sand – Letter 16
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Julia Sand – Letter 19
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Julia Sand – Letter 8
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Julia Sand – Letter 23
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Julia Sand – Letter 11
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Julia Sand – Letter 17
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Julia Sand – Letter 7
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Julia Sand – Letter 21
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Julia Sand – Letter 9
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Julia Sand – Letter 18
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Julia Sand – Letter 4
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Julia Sand – Letter 22
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Julia Sand – Letter 3
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Julia Sand – Letter 6
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Julia Sand – Letter 15
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Julia Sand – Letter 13
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Julia Sand – Letter 1
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Julia Sand – Letter 10
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Free to Prosper: Health care
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Free to Prosper: Telecommunications
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Free to Prosper: Constitutional restoration
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Free to Prosper: Energy and environment
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Free to Prosper: Regulatory reform and government efficiency
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Free to Prosper: Transportation
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Free to Prosper: Corporate governance
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Free to Prosper: Banking and finance
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Free to Prosper: Artificial intelligence
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Free to Prosper: Labor and employment
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Free to Prosper: Civil asset forfeiture
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Free to Prosper: Online speech
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Free to Prosper: Inflation
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Free to Prosper: Introduction
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Free to Prosper: Antitrust
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Free to Prosper: Trade
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Chapter 5: Regulatory dark matter: Executive orders and memoranda
Although executive actions ostensibly deal with the internal operations of the federal government, they increasingly can have binding effect and influence private behavior. Executive orders,…
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Chapter 6: More than 22,000 agency public notices annually
Along with the few dozen presidential memoranda and other proclamations are the thousands that issue from departments and agencies. Through various species of guidance documents,…
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Chapter 13: Needed: An agenda for rightsizing Washington
Rule counts regularly topped 4,000 in the 1990s. That is the wrong comparison for Biden’s lower rule counts. His fewer rules have higher costs, are…
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Chapter 4: The expanding Code of Federal Regulations
The page count in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)—where the Federal Register’s rules come to rest in small print in bound volumes of magenta,…
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Chapter 7: A note on rule reviews at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Yesterday’s rule review, where the review authority sought to restrain government intervention and minimize costs, is different from today’s rule review. Now the would-be overseer…
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Chapter 12: The 2024 Unconstitutionality Index: 44 rules for every law
Article I of the Constitution notwithstanding, administrative agencies rather than Congress do most of the lawmaking in the United States. Congress enacts weighty legislation but…
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Chapter 10: Federal regulations affecting state and local governments
State and local officials’ concerns over federal mandates’ overriding their own priorities and prerogatives resulted in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, the requirements…
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Chapter 11: Government Accountability Office database on rules and major rules
The federal government’s regulatory reports and databases serve different purposes. The Federal Register presents all proposed and final rules affecting the private sector, as well…
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Chapter 2: Why we need a regulatory budget
Well before Biden’s unique transformations, policymakers recognized a role for regulatory restraint, transparency, and disclosure. Federal programs are funded either by taxes or by borrowing,…
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Chapter 8: The “Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions”
Along with the Report to Congress, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, another vehicle for regulatory disclosure is the spring and fall editions of…
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Chapter 9: Federal regulations affecting small business
The aforementioned National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) report found that average annual per-employee regulatory costs to firms vary by firm size in a way that…
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Chapter 3: Page counts and numbers of rules in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its number of pages is often cited as…
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Chapter 1: Biden’s whole-of-government regulatory philosophy
Prior editions of Ten Thousand Commandments extensively surveyed the Biden administration’s whole-of-government campaigns and the role of executive actions, rules, and memoranda in their pursuit.
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Chapter 5: Page Counts and Numbers of Rules in the Federal Register
The Federal Register is the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations. Although its number of pages is often cited as…
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Chapter 3: Getting Beyond a Federal Regulatory Budget and the Limitations of Administrative Reform
Federal programs are funded either by taxes or by borrowing, with interest, from future tax collections. When Congress spends, no one questions that disclosure…
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Chapter 6: The Expanding Code of Federal Regulations
The page count in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), where the Register’s rules come to rest in small print, is not as dramatic…
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Chapter 9: A Note on Rule Reviews at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Tracking the effects of rules and regulations, executive orders, memoranda, and regulatory guidance is vital. These alternative regulatory actions have become powerful means of working…
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Chapter 13: Federal Regulations Affecting State and Local Governments
Ten Thousand Commandments primarily emphasizes federal regulations imposed on the private sector. However, state and local officials’ complaints over federal mandates’ overriding their own…
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Chapter 1: Biden’s Regulatory “Modernization” Continues Whole-of-Government Pursuit of Coercive Progressivism
The 2022 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments extensively surveyed the Biden administration’s executive actions, rules, and memoranda that reversed the Trump regulatory policy and attenuated…
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Chapter 10: Analysis of “The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions”
“The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions” (the Unified Agenda) is the document in which agencies have outlined regulatory priorities…
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Chapter 8: Another Dimension of Regulatory Dark Matter: Over 22,000 Agency Public Notices Annually
Along with presidential proclamations are those of departments and agencies. These are numerous and sweeping. Through various kinds of guidance documents, notices, and policy statements,…
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Chapter 15: Regulation without Representation: The “Unconstitutionality Index”—13 Rules for Every Law
Administrative agencies, not Congress, do most U.S. lawmaking, despite Article I of the Constitution stipulating otherwise. Congress is to blame here, as it routinely enacts…
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Chapter 4: The Unknowable Costs of Regulation and Intervention and a $1.939 Trillion Estimate
The federal government undertakes little review of federal regulation to ensure that regulations individually do more good than bad each year, and it performs no…
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Executive Summary – Ten Thousand Commandments 2023
The cost of government extends well beyond what Washington taxes. Federal regulations add another $1.939 trillion to Americans’ annual burden. Federal environmental, safety and health,…
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Chapter 2: Competition Policy That Exiles Competitive Enterprise Harms Equity
Biden has repeatedly claimed, “I’m a capitalist.” He also rightly says that capitalism without competition is “exploitation.” However the top-down vision Biden promotes, which is…
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Chapter 11: Notable Rules and Rulemakings by Agency
In recent Unified Agenda editions and in other venues, federal agencies have noted the regulatory initiatives listed below, among many others pending or recently completed.
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Chapter 14: Government Accountability Office Database on Regulations
The federal government’s reports and databases on regulations serve different purposes: The Federal Register details and depicts the aggregate number of proposed and final rules—both…