Thankful for Regulatory Reform: What CRF Told DC Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week is usually a time for Americans to slow down, reconnect with family, and reflect on the blessings and opportunities we enjoy as a nation. But this year, it also offered something else—something the Center for Regulatory Freedom (CRF) is especially thankful for: real, meaningful, badly-needed regulatory reform coming out of Washington.

For too long, federal agencies drifted from core missions, ignored statutory limits, indulged in opaque decision-making, and piled endless compliance burdens onto American workers, businesses, and taxpayers. But the shift underway in late 2025—driven by the new administration’s commitment to border security, public safety, energy expansion, and regulatory transparency—marks a decisive turn back toward common sense.

And during Thanksgiving week, CRF was busy filing comments across multiple agencies, each aimed at helping restore the rule of law, reduce bureaucratic drag, and steer the federal government toward simple, responsible, citizen-focused policymaking.

Here’s awhat CRF submitted, why these issues matter, and why—this year especially—we’re grateful for a federal government finally taking regulatory reform seriously again.

1. USDA’s SNAP Food Standards: A Chance to Improve Nutrition Without Hurting Food Access

One of the major Thanksgiving-week proposals came from the Department of Agriculture, which is revising the rules for what foods SNAP retailers must keep in stock. USDA wants to ensure that taxpayer-supported food benefits actually support healthier, less processed dietary options.

CRF agreed with that goal—but urged the agency to avoid creating unintended consequences for small neighborhood stores.

The last thing low-income families need is for Washington to impose rules that large chains can absorb easily but small stores cannot. When compliance costs rise, small retailers close. And when small retailers close, entire communities lose access to food—nutritious or otherwise.

CRF also pointed out that USDA must be careful in how it categorizes plant-based alternatives, protein sources, and dairy substitutes. Science should guide these decisions, not activist pressure or market trends.

Thanksgiving takeaway: The United States should encourage better nutrition, but not at the expense of the very communities SNAP is supposed to help. Thoughtful reform—not bureaucratic rigidity—is something to be thankful for.

2. DHS Biometric Screening: Finally Fixing a Border-Security Gap That Should Never Have Existed

CRF also filed comments on the Department of Homeland Security’s new rule requiring photographs and other biometric checks for all aliens entering or exiting the United States.

This action replaced the lax border practices of the prior administration with a system worthy of a country serious about national security.

Millions of visitors enter the United States legally every year—but without biometrics, DHS has no reliable way to confirm who overstays, who returns home, or who attempts to re-enter under false pretenses. For years, that gap served as an open invitation for bad actors.

CRF supported the new rule and recommended tightening enforcement language to prevent discretionary loopholes that border personnel could interpret too broadly.

Thanksgiving takeaway: A government finally committed to securing the border and enforcing immigration laws is something every American should appreciate.

3. Visa Waiver Program Oversight: Fixing a Program That’s Been Exploited for Years

Closely related to the biometric rule was a separate DHS request involving Form I-775—the paperwork that governs the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This program allows citizens of select countries to enter the U.S. without a visa.

In theory, it’s convenient. In practice, it’s been exploited.

CRF highlighted the uncomfortable truth: even a tiny overstay rate translates into tens of thousands of unauthorized individuals remaining in the United States each year. Worse, the program relies on biographic (not biometric) screening, and it allows people to skip the in-person interviews that traditional visa applicants must undergo.

In an era of global terror threats, that’s irresponsible.

CRF urged DHS to reassess participating countries, strengthen safeguards, and modernize vetting requirements to stop security risks from slipping through.

Thanksgiving takeaway: America should welcome travelers—but only when the system protects our national security first. DHS correcting these long-ignored weaknesses is something to celebrate.

4. Restoring Integrity in Commercial Driver Licensing: Keeping Dangerous Drivers Off American Roads

One of the most significant safety rules released during Thanksgiving week came from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The agency tightened its rules on non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs)—the licenses foreign nationals must hold to operate commercial trucks in the U.S.

For years, individuals without lawful immigration status were obtaining CDLs. Some were later involved in tragic, high-profile crashes.

CRF supported FMCSA’s decision to restrict CDL eligibility to individuals lawfully present under specific employment-based visa categories. We also endorsed new verification steps, in-person renewals, and real-time immigration status checks.

Bad actors should not be able to weaponize a commercial truck—or use a CDL as a foothold to linger unlawfully in the United States.

Thanksgiving takeaway: Strong border enforcement isn’t just about immigration—it’s about keeping American families safe on the road.

5. VA Disability Fraud Prevention: Protecting Veterans and Taxpayers from Abuse

The Department of Veterans Affairs also issued an important proposal aimed at tightening standards for disability claims involving painful scars and other subjective conditions.

CRF supported the reform wholeheartedly.

Subjective pain-based claims have seen massive increases in recent years, driven in part by bad-faith “claims consultants” who coach veterans on how to game the system. Every fraudulent claim drains resources from veterans who truly need and deserve care.

CRF praised the VA for insisting on objective medical evidence, clearer diagnostic criteria, and firmer verification standards—steps that will protect both taxpayers and genuine claimants.

Thanksgiving takeaway: A VA committed to integrity, fairness, and stewardship of public dollars is something Americans can be grateful for.

6. EPA’s Use of Focus Groups: Calling Out “Regulatory Dark Energy” Before It Grows

The Environmental Protection Agency requested renewed approval to use focus groups in the early stages of developing surveys for economics projects.

EPA insists these focus groups are harmless.

CRF disagreed.

We warned that focus groups—small, non-representative, undocumented conversations—inevitably shape how questions are written, how benefits are described, and how assumptions enter economic analyses. They function as de facto policymaking tools without public oversight.

CRF compared these hidden influences to “regulatory dark energy”: invisible, unaccountable forces that shape policy without going through the checks and balances required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

Thanksgiving takeaway: Transparency is a pillar of democracy. Agencies recognizing and correcting hidden policymaking channels is something reformers should cheer.

7. Renewable Fuel Standard Reform: Reducing Paperwork and Exposing a Broken Program

EPA also proposed a major reduction—nearly 140,000 hours—in the paperwork associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). CRF supported this step because it will save industry more than $10 million annually and free the equivalent of roughly 187 full-time workers from bureaucratic busywork.

But CRF also reminded EPA: paperwork isn’t the only problem.

The RFS itself is a deeply flawed mandate that distorts markets, inflates fuel and food prices, and forces refiners into compliance pathways that don’t align with modern energy realities.

EPA’s willingness to cut unnecessary paperwork is encouraging—but the program still needs wholesale reform.

Thanksgiving takeaway: Any step toward freeing Americans from pointless red tape is progress—and something to be thankful for.

8. Rebuilding America’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle: A Long-Overdue National Priority

Finally, CRF submitted comments on the Department of Energy’s proposed voluntary agreement under the Defense Production Act aimed at restoring the domestic nuclear fuel cycle. For decades, America allowed key parts of this supply chain—conversion, enrichment, fabrication—to drift overseas.

Now, rising electricity demand, data center expansion, AI power needs, and geopolitical competition have made one truth unavoidable: America cannot remain an energy superpower if it depends on foreign nations for nuclear fuel.

CRF supported DOE’s use of the Defense Production Act while urging the agency to tighten definitions, enforce guardrails, improve transparency, and ensure antitrust protections are applied correctly.

A strong nuclear sector is essential for national defense, industrial growth, grid reliability, and America’s global tech leadership.

Thanksgiving takeaway: Rebuilding strategic industries at home is one of the most consequential reforms underway—and CRF is grateful to see it finally happening.

A Thanksgiving Season of Real Reform

Thanksgiving week might be a quiet period for most Americans, but it marked a major moment for regulatory sanity in Washington. Across agencies—USDA, DHS, DOT, VA, EPA, and DOE—the federal government signaled a willingness to confront outdated rules, fix broken programs, and strengthen America’s security and prosperity.

CRF is thankful for:

• A government finally committed to enforcing the law

• Agencies willing to cut red tape

• A renewed focus on national security

• Real efforts to restore transparency

• Policies that actually help small businesses, not crush them

• A return to evidence-based decision-making

• Rebuilding America’s energy and industrial strength

• Making sure America is AFFORDABLE again!

Thanksgiving is about gratitude—and this year, CRF is grateful that regulatory reform is not just a slogan, but a reality.