Unraveling the Federal Expenditure and Regulation Impasse: Finally, a Solution Proposed
In an ideal world, what if the liberty movement triumphs in reining in the administrative state by curbing Congress's over-delegation of power, only to find that massive central government intervention persists, unchecked through agency regulations? This conundrum highlights the necessity of not just administrative state reforms, but a comprehensive overhaul of our political system.
While private matters such as industry structures, housing, food choices, and health decisions may not be federal concerns, Washington treats them as such with alarming frequency. Restoring the non-delegation doctrine to curb agency overreach is a good starting point, but it's a futile endeavor if Congress itself sidesteps its limited, enumerated powers.
In 2024, federal agencies issued an avalanche of 3,248 rules, compared to a mere 175 public laws passed by Congress. This reveals a pervasive concern: agency rulemaking supplanting Congress's authority. Even when Congress passes fewer laws, those enactments expand to epic proportions, as seen in the Inflation, Infrastructure, and CHIPS and Science laws that launched whole-of-government initiatives like climate change pursuits, equity, price controls, competition policies, and business-government partnerships in AI.
However, restoring only Article I lawmaking power to Congress, without addressing Congress's disregard for enumerated powers, risks limited outcomes. Eliminating departments and agencies, ending federal subsidies, and downscaling the contracting, procurement, and acquisitions regime are crucial steps in the right direction. Progressives have long adapted to mandates dressed as grants, so a constitutional amendment might be necessary to permanently reel in federal overreach.
One notable example is antitrust, which has often undermined free markets and fostered business-government partnerships overall, replacing efficient, large-scale enterprise with suboptimal public-private arrangements. Antitrust disruptions diminish competition and economic efficiency, yet persist as a legitimate 'consumer welfare' principle among legislators. It's high time for stress-testing this premise and rethinking antitrust policy altogether.
Ending over-delegation is just a piece of the puzzle. The underlying challenge stems from Congress's neglect of its enumerated powers, enabling downstream regulatory laundering. By integrating strategic spending and downstream regulation, Congress handily sidesteps constitutional constraints, which ultimately threatens individual liberty.
Consider Trump's Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which advocates for terminating entire federal departments and agencies to restore primary governance to states, localities, and civil society. Reining in Congress is essential before any effort to curb agency overreach can yield real, long-lasting results. The liberty movement must prioritize reducing federal bulk and addressing Congress's glaring excesses to build a solid foundation for regulatory reforms.
- Despite the liberty movement's efforts to restrict Congress's power of delegation, leading to a decrease in Congress's lawmaking, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) still sees an increase in regulatory spending, highlighting the persistence of agency intervention.
- In the context of financial regulations, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under President Trump proposed to review its regulatory practices and reduce its oversight, aiming to minimize burden on debtors and financial institutions.
- The USAID, under the guidance of federal agencies, and other government organizations, often face criticism for their roles in debt relief and overseas spending, leading to debates about the appropriate level of federal intervention in foreign aid and economic development.
- Federal agencies, in their regulatory pursuits, often face scrutiny from the Trump administration and other political entities, further emphasizing the need for comprehensive reforms in the regulation process to ensure accountability and avoid conflict of interest.