The federal administrative state hummed along for years, relatively unperturbed until Donald Trump implemented a freeze on new costs in January. In the background, though, the decades-long accumulation of official designations of rule types and effects has complicated the prospects for fundamentally reforming the federal regulatory enterprise. A confusing variety of terms federal agencies use when implementing rules -- often with inadequate accountability -- lets some rulemaking fly below the radar. As it stands, the bill would create yet new terms: "major guidance" and "high-impact rule. More fundamentally, Congress needs to review rule-making authority of runaway federal agencies and expand accountability for the rules our government is issuing.

Source: Forbes September 25, 2017 00:45 UTC