Biden Has Unleashed The Regulatory Leviathan: Report

I & I Editorial Board October 26, 2022 2 comments 

 Voters who think that putting Republicans in control of the House and Senate will make a big difference for the economy are in for a rude awakening. President Joe Biden has unleashed the regulatory Leviathan. Lawmakers will be hard-pressed to stop the damage. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) just this morning released its hugely valuable report called “10,000 Commandments,” which is a compendium of the regulatory state. In it, CEI Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews lays out the terrible truth about Biden’s regulatory zeal.

The first thing you have to understand about federal regulation is how massive it already is, with compliance costs that total more than $1.9 trillion a year.    That’s bigger than Canada’s entire GDP. It’s bigger, in fact, than all but seven nations in the world. It works out to almost $15,000 per household............To Read More....

Michael Mann Loses Again

March 19, 2021 by John Hinderaker in Climate @ Powerline

Climate pseudo-scientist Michael Mann is litigious, but his track record is poor. Nearly nine years ago, he sued National Review, Mark Steyn and the Competitive Enterprise Institute over a post that Mark did at The Corner, which read in part:

Michael Mann was the man behind the fraudulent climate-change “hockey-stick” graph, the very ringmaster of the tree-ring circus. And, when the East Anglia emails came out, Penn State felt obliged to “investigate” Professor Mann. Graham Spanier, the Penn State president forced to resign over Sandusky, was the same cove who investigated Mann. And, as with Sandusky and Paterno, the college declined to find one of its star names guilty of any wrongdoing.

If an institution is prepared to cover up systemic statutory rape of minors, what won’t it cover up? Whether or not he’s “the Jerry Sandusky of climate change”, he remains the Michael Mann of climate change, in part because his “investigation” by a deeply corrupt administration was a joke.

Mann sued for defamation. His case is obviously ill-founded, as Mark’s post was a statement of opinion on a subject of great public interest. It is a scandal that Mark Steyn and National Review have spent millions defending themselves against a frivolous lawsuit for nearly a decade.

After years of procedural machinations, the D.C. court has finally dismissed Mann’s case against National Review, on the ground that any “actual malice” on the part of Mark Steyn, a non-employee, cannot be attributed to National Review. No kidding. That ruling should have been available eight years ago.

Mann’s frivolous, harassing lawsuit continues against Steyn and CEI. Those claims, too, should have been dismissed long ago. As Mark has often said, the process is the punishment. The only way this litigation can end with any semblance of justice is if the court assesses many millions of dollars in costs against the appalling Michael Mann.

CEI Report Calls for Elimination of EPA's Flawed Integrated Risk Information System

February 12, 2019

A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) shows EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) has significant problems with methodology, relies on sloppy research and has been criticized for a lack of transparency. The report, authored by CEI senior fellow Angela Logomasini and titled “EPA’s Flawed IRIS Program is Not the Gold Standard,” calls for IRIS to be shut down and its functions shifted into program offices at EPA.

Logomasini points out that information produced by IRIS does not undergo a full risk assessment, it only performs two of the EPA-identified four steps, and has made numerous controversial assessments with little basis in reality. One particularly controversial episode, addressed in the paper, is a faulty risk assessment of formaldehyde that drew a rebuke from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS)...........To Read More....

CEI Calls for Acting Attorney General to Recognize that Commission on Civil Rights Lacks Legal Authority to Operate

December 13, 2018

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today formally requested the acting Attorney General to find that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) has no legal authority from Congress to carry on its activities. In a letter filed with the acting AG, CEI pointed out that the Commission’s authorization from Congress had expired more than 22 years ago, in October 1996. Since that time, Congress has never reauthorized the Commission. While Congress has continued to appropriate funding for the Commission, Supreme Court precedent makes it clear that appropriation bills do not change the underlying substantive law that created the agency without a clear statement to the contrary.

CEI also called on the acting AG to notify the U.S. Treasury that its disbursement of funding to the Commission was illegal............To Read More....

CEI Sues the District of Columbia for Failing to Produce Records Under Freedom of Information Act

December 19, 2018

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today sued the District of Columbia (DC) and the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in DC Superior Court for ignoring seven CEI requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  These requests, dating back to October 2016, seek information relating to that OAG’s participation in a 2016 scheme to investigate opponents of the “climate” policy agenda, and its 2018 acceptance of a privately funded “Special Assistant Attorney General” for climate change, underwritten by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg.

DC’s OAG acknowledged, then ignored each and every of the seven requests despite numerous reminders from CEI — each of which OAG also acknowledged, only to then disregard in blatant violation of DC’s FOIA law. That law requires responses within 15 business days. In extraordinary circumstances, OAG can take an extension of ten days. OAG decided the better part of valor was to delay for up to two years, and even then force CEI to sue to bring these records into the light of day for public inspection............To Read More.....

What Do the Midterms Mean for Regulatory Reform?

Ryan Young  November 7, 2018

A divided Congress probably means the status quo will reign on regulation. This is a mixed bag from a free-market perspective. President Trump made some positive reforms upon taking office, but they were via executive order, and can be easily overturned by a future president—Congress needs to pass legislation to give reforms any staying power. Barring a lame duck miracle, that won’t happen now. Republicans blew a rare opportunity.

President Trump’s executive order reforms include a one-in-two-out rule for new regulations, and a requirement for agencies to add zero net regulatory costs—a de facto regulatory budget, which the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been advocating for more than 20 years. Agencies are not exactly transparent with their data. But based on what we do know, it’s possible that total regulatory burdens have not only stopped growing, but might have even gone down by as much as 1 percent over the last two years.

The main reform priority is the rulemaking process itself. It’s nice to get rid of this or that unfair, obsolete, or burdensome rule, but those are just symptoms. The root problem is the process that allows such regulations through in the first place. Better results require better rules. This cannot be overemphasized............To Read More.....

Ten Thousand Commandments 2017

The burden of federal regulations on the American public reached a record $1.9 trillion last year.

Clyde Wayne Crews • May 31, 2017 View the Full Report Here

Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and how the U.S. regulatory burden affects American consumers, businesses, and the economy. Authored by CEI Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr., it shines a light on the large and growing “hidden tax” of America’s regulatory state.

Federal government spending, deficits, and the national debt are staggering, but so is the impact of federal regulations. Unfortunately, regulations get little attention in policy debates because, unlike taxes, they are unbudgeted, difficult to quantify, and their effects are often indirect. By making Washington’s rules and mandates more comprehensible, Crews underscores the need for more review, transparency, and accountability for new and existing federal regulations.

The 2017 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments is unique and will serve as a benchmark to measure President Trump’s efforts to cut red tape against those of his predecessors. President Obama’s final year in office showed a regulatory surge. Will Trump keep his promise and slam the breaks on overregulation?
 

Highlights from the 2017 edition include:........If U.S. regulation was a country, it would be the world’s seventh-largest economy, ranking behind India and ahead of Italy...........To Read More....

Appeals Court Rules CFPB Unconstitutional

CEI Applauds Ruling As Win for Limited Government

October 11, 2016

“This is a great day for limited government and the constitutional separation of powers,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) General Counsel Sam Kazman, following a ruling in PHH Corp. v Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that found the CFPB to be unconstitutional.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the CFPB’s structure to be unconstitutional. It invalidated the Dodd Frank provision that made its director removable only for cause, and ruled that in fact the President has authority to remove the CFPB director at will.

“Today’s ruling will play a major role in providing proper accountability for this rogue agency,” said Kazman. “It also opens the door for CEI’s district court case, State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew, to move forward, challenging the constitutionality of other aspects of CFPB.”.....To Read More...

CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

by Ryan Young on November 25, 2013

It was a light week on the regulatory front, but the Federal Register still added more than 1,200 pages. It will almost certainly pass the 70,000-page mark next week.   On to the data:….To Read More…..

My Take - Please understand that no matter how high that number goes; that isn’t the total number of pages in the entire registry.  That’s how many have been added this year.  At the current rate of growth federal regulations will make up approximately 870,000 pages over the next ten years.  There are two questions that must be asked.  How much does this cost and is it possible to avoid violating one of these - many times obscure - regulations?  The answer to the first is it costs Americans approximated 1.87 TRILLION dollars a year currently,  and it is now impossible to avoid becoming a criminal of some sort via federal regulations.  Solution?  Repeal the 17^th amendment….as a good first step.  What’s the 17^th amendment and why should it be repealed?  This is a good intellectual exercise for everyone.

CEI Podcast for September 26, 2013: “The Cupboard Is Bare”

by Ryan Young on September 26, 2013

On Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposed the notion of federal spending cuts, saying that “The cupboard is bare” and “There’s no more cuts to make.” This not actually being the case, Senior Communications Director Brian McNicoll lists off a series of programs and departments that should be removed from the very full federal cupboard. ….To Read More….

CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

by Ryan Young on September 23, 2013

This week in the world of regulation:

1.       Last week, 76 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 61 new final rules the previous week.

2.      That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 13 minutes — 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

3.      All in all, 2,670 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.

4.      If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,706 new final rules.

5.      Last week, 1,339 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 57,956 pages.

6.      At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 79,175 pages, which would be good for fourth all time. The current record is 81,405 pages, set in 2010.

7.      Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. Two such rules were published last week, for a total of 28 so far in 2013.

8.     The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $5.78 billion to $10.39 billion.

9.      So far, 231 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.

10.  So far this year, 510 final rules affect small business; 67 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:.....To Read More...

CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation

by Ryan Young on July 22, 2013 · 0 comments in Features, Regulation

This week in the world of regulation:

Last week, 68 new final regulations were published in the Federal Register. There were 84 new final rules the previous week.  That’s the equivalent of a new regulation every two hours and 28 minutes — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All in all, 1,998 final rules have been published in the Federal Register this year.

·         If this keeps up, the total tally for 2013 will be 3,646 new final rules.

·         Last week, 1,750 new pages were added to the 2013 Federal Register, for a total of 43,686 pages.

·         At its current pace, the 2013 Federal Register will run 78,572 pages.

·         Rules are called “economically significant” if they have costs of $100 million or more in a given year. One such published last week, for a total of 17 so far in 2013.

·         The total estimated compliance costs of this year’s economically significant regulations ranges from $5.78 billion to $10.39 billion.\

·         So far, 138 final rules that meet the broader definition of “significant” have been published in 2013.

·         So far this year, 333 final rules affect small business; 30 of them are significant rules.

Highlights from final rules published last week:….To ReadMore…..

Out of control: 47 new regs for every new law

Paul Bedard  January 30, 2013 5 Comments

Somebody forgot to tell Washington's regulatory agencies that it's Congress that makes laws governing American commerce. According to a new Competitive Enterprise Institute study provided to Secrets, agency bureaucrats have finalized 47 times more new rules than laws passed in 2011, a runaway record over the past nine years.

CEI found that Congress passed just 81 new laws in 2011, but regulators OK'd 3,807 regulations. A year earlier, Congress approved 217 new laws compared to 3,573 rules, or 16 times more rules.

"It's quite eye-opening," said CEI's Wayne Crews. "Regulators issue vastly more rules than those elected to make laws. Calling it unaccountable rulemaking is an understatement. It's un-Democratic."

The business community has complained bitterly for years about the burden of new regulations under Obama and this will give them new ammo to fight the administration….To Read More…..