Unnecessary and overbearing federal regulations cost the American people nearly $2 trillion every year, according to a recent report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
The report surveys the entire regulatory state, and the top-line findings are disturbing:
- Each U.S. household’s estimated federal regulatory burden is at least $14,455 annually on average. That amounts to 18 percent of the average pre-tax household budget and exceeds every item in that budget, except housing.
- Agencies published 2,964 new final regulations in 2019. This is the first year with fewer than 3,000 new regulations since records began being kept in 1976. However, agencies also listed 3,752 upcoming rules in the most recent twice-yearly Unified Agenda.
- When regulatory outlays are combined with 2019’s $4.447 trillion in spending, the federal government alone takes up 30 percent of the economy.
- Congress passed 105 bills in 2019. Compared to 2,964 regulations, This means federal agencies issued 28 regulations for every bill passed. This “Unconstitutionality Index” almost exactly matches the historical average for the last decade.
Even worse, all this unnecessary red tape is harming our country's ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Even with President Trump's de-regulatory efforts, our country still suffers under the weight of mountains of paperwork.
“Despite the progress made on regulatory reform under President Trump, America’s regulatory state is still causing major problems in America’s pandemic response. Over-regulation will make the coming recovery far more difficult than it needs to be,” said CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews. “And that progress is further threatened by President Trump’s own regulatory impulses on issues ranging from antitrust enforcement to trade restrictions to media content regulation, and more.”
Crews understands that we can't try to roll back rules and policies one at a time. That would take an eternity. Instead, he recommends tackling the systemic issues that make the regulatory state possible.
“It is not enough to get rid of specific rules. The rulemaking process itself, which lets harmful rules pass and prevents their reform, needs urgent attention. Congress, the President, and agencies need to work together right now to enact system-level reforms. These will help immediately with the virus response, will aid economic rebuilding, and will ensure that the government won’t be caught flat-footed against the next crisis."
Unfortunately, Crews, like many policy makers, looks to the federal government to reform itself. That's not going to happen. Even with President Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, the feds did little to enact meaningful reforms to the bureaucratic nanny state.
Instead, we need to look to the states and the people.
Article V of the Constitution allows the states to call a Convention of States for the purpose of proposing constitutional amendments. These amendments, once ratified by 38 states, can limit the size and scope of the federal government as a whole.
Rather than tackle each regulation one by one, these amendments can eliminate entire federal agencies, shift jurisdiction on issues to state and localities, and reform the way the feds make "rules" that have the force of law.
Over four million Americans and 15 states have signed on to the Article V movement. Will you be next?
