Regulatory Tyranny, Congressional Abdication—and the Push to Take It All Back

If America is ever going to rein in the unchecked power of the administrative state, it’s going to require two things: a Congress willing to reassert its constitutional role, and policy experts willing to map the path forward. On back-to-back days, CPAC Foundation Center for Regulatory Freedom Director Andrew Langer (filling in on WCBM AM680 in Baltimore) featured interviews with two people leading that charge—Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), chair of the Republican Study Committee’s Article I Task Force. Together, they laid out a sobering picture of how far the regulatory state has grown—and how we can finally push back.

“Congress Gave This Away”

Rep. Hageman opened her interview with a clear indictment of Congress: “What they did is turn over lawmaking to the Secretary of the EPA,” she said, referencing the Clean Air Act’s vague delegation of power. That dynamic, repeated across decades and agencies, has hollowed out Congress’s lawmaking authority. Instead of writing specific laws, lawmakers have preferred to hand sweeping powers to bureaucrats—and then blame those same agencies when things go wrong.

As Hageman pointed out, this isn’t a new phenomenon, but it has accelerated dramatically in recent years. “Joe Biden is the biggest regulator in U.S. history. Barack Obama was the biggest before him,” she noted. That’s a big reason why the current estimated cost of regulation is in the trillions ($2.1 trillion according to some, approximately $4 trillion according to Langer and others).

Worse, the laws being written by federal agencies now carry not just economic consequences, but serious civil and criminal penalties. Hageman recalled a Wyoming irrigation case where the EPA sought over $60 million in fines for alleged Clean Water Act violations. The target? A small landowner who altered an irrigation ditch on his own property. “You don’t even have to know you’re violating the law to be prosecuted,” she warned.

The Rise of “Regulatory Dark Matter”

Clyde Wayne Crews has been calling out this unchecked regulatory sprawl for decades through his annual 10,000 Commandments report. But as he explained to Andrew Langer, the worst offenses aren’t even formal rules. They’re guidance memos, policy circulars, FAQs, and enforcement letters—what CEI calls “regulatory dark matter.”

“These are not laws,” Crews said. “They don’t go through Congress. They’re not subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking. And yet they have real-world consequences.” A perfect example: in 2019, the USDA issued a two-page guidance document mandating RFID ear tags for all cattle and bison by 2023. Estimated cost? $1.2 to $1.9 billion. Regulatory authority? None.

Rep. Hageman confirmed that her task force is actively investigating this issue. “Agencies don’t even go through the APA process anymore,” she said. “They just post something to a website, and suddenly it’s treated as law.” For farmers, ranchers, and small business owners, the consequences can be devastating—and legally irreversible.

The Article I Task Force: Reclaiming the Power of the Purse—and the Pen

To fight back, Hageman is leading the Article I Task Force under the Republican Study Committee. Its purpose is simple: restore Congress’s lawmaking power, as granted under Article I of the Constitution. That means better legislation—drafted with clear definitions, explicit limits, and no room for “interpretive” rulemaking by agencies.

It also means fighting to eliminate administrative law courts, where citizens are often stripped of their right to a jury trial. Hageman has introduced the Seventh Amendment Restoration Act to allow defendants in regulatory cases to move their trials into Article III courts.

But the first step, she says, is education. Many members of Congress—and certainly their constituents—don’t fully understand how powerful agencies have become. “We’re starting by laying out how the system works,” Hageman said. “Then we can begin to fix it.”

Crews’ Deconstruction Hierarchy: A Blueprint for Reform

On the technical side, Wayne Crews is offering a roadmap. He recently briefed Rep. Hageman’s task force with a “regulatory deconstruction hierarchy” that lays out a strategic plan for unwinding the administrative state. It includes:

1. Freezing Pending Rules – Already underway under President Trump’s latest executive orders.

2. Using the Congressional Review Act – Crews lamented that, despite hundreds of eligible rules, only two CRA disapprovals had been passed under the current Congress.

3. Targeting Major Rules from the Past Two Decades – Many still in effect were built on shaky legal grounds under Chevron deference, which the Supreme Court overturned last year in the Loper-Bright decision.

4. Ending Dark Matter – Agencies must be barred from using guidance in place of formal rules.

5. Cutting Regulatory Strings in Subsidy Programs – Bills like the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act are riddled with backdoor mandates hidden in federal funding.

6. Abolishing Whole Agencies – A long-term goal, but Crews points to the Department of Education and USAID as ripe for elimination.

   
   

Crews emphasized that while Trump’s DOJ initiative to lead the “deconstruction of the administrative state” is a good start, it must be made permanent through legislation. “DOJ has a short life unless Congress codifies its mission,” he said.

Chevron’s Demise: A Chance to Reopen Old Rules

Both Hageman and Crews see the end of Chevron deference as a generational opportunity. “We can go back and challenge rules that only stood because of Chevron,” Langer noted during the interview. Agencies can now be petitioned to reconsider those rules, especially when they rely on vague statutory language.

This, Hageman argues, raises the stakes for her task force’s mission to help Congress write better laws. No more vague clauses like “the Secretary shall do whatever is necessary.” Instead, bills must be written with clear definitions, narrow scope, and enforceable limits.

“The courts are finally saying, ‘Congress, do your job,’” she said. “And now we have to step up.”

Final Thoughts: The Fight for Freedom Is Now

If there’s a common thread between Hageman and Crews, it’s urgency. The administrative state has been expanding unchecked for decades. It’s taken root.