Browse regulations

Veterans First Contracting Program requires federal contracting officers to give priority to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs). Officers must search the VA's VIP database and apply the 'Rule of Two' - contracts must be set aside for veteran-owned firms when two or more are capable, taking precedence over other small business programs.

This preference program distorts free competitive bidding, imposes significant administrative burden on both government and businesses, and creates yet another layer of categorical set-asides that fragments the federal procurement marketplace. The hidden costs include reduced competition, potential for inflated pricing, and the need for businesses to navigate an additional bureaucratic preference system rather than competing on merit. The military service of business owners is irrelevant to their ability to deliver value to taxpayers; competent veteran-owned firms can win contracts without special preference. The program's administrative apparatus - verification process, database maintenance, contracting officer training, and compliance monitoring - represents a deadweight loss to society that serves no compelling public purpose beyond political symbolism.

Regulation establishes mandatory procurement priorities for VA acquisitions, giving preference to veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB/VOSB), AbilityOne program (blind/disabled workers), Federal Prison Industries, and agency excess property over commercial competition. It implements complex 'Rule of Two' determinations, verification requirements, and a hierarchy of set-asides.

This regulation perverts free market procurement by forcing contracting officers to prioritize social engineering over best value. The mandatory sourcing hierarchy and set-aside requirements reduce competition, increase administrative burden, and inflate taxpayer costs. The legitimate goal of supporting veterans and disabled workers can be achieved more efficiently through direct subsidies or tax incentives that don't distort market outcomes. Government procurement should procure goods and services at the lowest cost with highest quality, not serve as a vehicle for redistributive preferences that protect incumbents and raise barriers to entry for non-preferred businesses.

Establishes the VA's acquisition regulation supplementing the FAR for VA procurement, with exceptions for prosthetics and healthcare sharing, and outlines delegation, deviation, and ratification procedures.

Adds redundant regulatory layer that increases procurement costs and barriers to entry, especially for small businesses, without clear justification beyond existing FAR framework.

Establishes a Tanker Security Fleet of up to 10 product tank vessels, providing subsidies to private owners/operators who meet eligibility requirements including U.S. citizenship (or trust/defense contractor arrangements), vessel age (≤10 years, with waivers), commercial viability, and military compatibility standards. Joint DoD/DOT program with MARAD administration; one-year agreements renewable through FY 2035 subject to appropriations.

Corporate welfare disguised as national security. Distorts market by subsidizing specific private operators with citizenship restrictions that raise barriers to competition and increase costs. National defense sealift needs can be met through direct procurement or charter agreements when required, not via permanent subsidies and extensive regulatory mandates. The compliance burden and opportunity costs of maintaining this favored fleet exceed any marginal readiness benefit.

This regulation establishes AmeriCorps' procedures for implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), including how to submit requests, processing timelines, fee structures, exemptions, appeals process, and procedures for handling confidential commercial information. It creates a standardized framework for public access to agency records while protecting legitimate interests.

Without these procedures, AmeriCorps would lack a standardized, transparent system for handling FOIA requests, leading to arbitrary denials and inconsistent treatment of requesters. Government transparency is foundational to liberty and accountability—citizens must be able to scrutinize how their tax dollars are spent and what their government is doing. The costs of maintaining this procedural framework are minimal compared to the immense value of an informed citizenry capable of holding power accountable. Deleting these rules would undermine FOIA's purpose and erode a critical check on bureaucratic overreach.

Establishes discretionary procedures for AmeriCorps to indemnify employees from personal liability in legal claims not covered by FTCA or FELRTCA, requiring CEO determination that actions were within scope of employment and that indemnification serves agency interest.

Deletion would expose public servants to unpredictable personal financial risk for official acts, deterring talent from service; the rule provides necessary oversight and consistency to protect both employees and taxpayers from arbitrary decisions.

NEH regulation governing discretionary indemnification of current/former employees against legal judgments or settlements arising from actions within the scope of employment, requiring written requests to the General Counsel and approval by the Chairperson or designee.

This is a minor internal personnel procedure that does not regulate the public or achieve any legitimate external policy objective. Keeping it in the CFR unnecessarily expands regulatory volume and creates formal procedural burdens for an internal matter better handled through agency guidance, contributing to the $2 trillion compliance burden and regulatory complexity that erodes the rule of law.

Regulation establishes procedures for NEH employees responding to legal demands for testimony or records in private litigation, requiring General Counsel authorization to protect agency interests, maintain impartiality, and safeguard confidential information.

Deletion would allow unchecked individual compliance with legal demands, risking inconsistent statements, unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, diversion of NEH resources from its core mission, and agency entanglement in private disputes, increasing taxpayer costs and harming NEH's effectiveness.

FEMA's procedural regulations implementing informal rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act, establishing processes for public participation, docket maintenance, comment submission, ex parte communication restrictions, informal hearings, and petitions for rulemaking.

These procedures ensure transparency and public accountability in agency rulemaking, essential checks against regulatory capture and arbitrary government power. Deleting them would reduce visibility into FEMA's decisions, limit citizen participation, and enable backroom deals that distort the democratic process and economic freedom.

Establishes a comprehensive permitting system for collecting paleontological resources from federal lands, requiring scientific curation, protecting resources from theft/damage, while allowing limited casual collecting of common invertebrate and plant fossils on BLM/Reclamation lands. Coordinates management across BLM, Reclamation, FWS, and NPS.

Deletion would result in unregulated exploitation of finite federal fossil resources, loss of critical scientific context, depletion of specimens to private markets, and degradation of irreplaceable sites. The permit system ensures qualified stewardship while maintaining public access to common fossils, protecting a public trust that cannot be managed effectively through property rights alone given the Tragedy of the Commons on federal lands.

This regulation establishes the Vaccine Injury Table for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, defining specific vaccine-related injuries (e.g., anaphylaxis, encephalopathy, SIRVA), their clinical criteria, timeframes for presumed causation, and the method for calculating average health insurance costs for lost earnings compensation.

The program imposes significant taxpayer costs while creating moral hazard by shielding manufacturers from full liability. The arbitrary time windows and restrictive definitions exclude many legitimate injuries, and the federal compensation scheme undermines state tort law and proper market accountability. Unseen effects include reduced safety incentives and over-vaccination.

This regulation implements the Hill-Burton Act's community service and uncompensated care requirements for healthcare facilities receiving federal construction/loan assistance. It mandates that recipients provide a 'reasonable volume' of free or reduced-cost services to indigent patients (presumptively 3% of operating costs or 10% of federal assistance), sets eligibility criteria, and imposes reporting, evaluation, and enforcement duties on state agencies.

The regulation imposes substantial compliance costs on hospitals, creates perverse incentives that may deter facilities from accepting needed federal construction funds for underserved areas, and represents unconstitutional federal overreach into healthcare—a domain reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment. Charity care should be addressed through state/local policies or voluntary private action, not mandated by a distant bureaucracy with its own unintended consequences, such as cross-subsidization that raises costs for paying patients and barriers to entry for small providers.

Federal emission standards for aircraft gas turbine engines, setting limits on smoke, nvPM, HC, CO, and NOX with tiered requirements based on engine type and manufacture date. Includes exemptions, annual reporting, and preempts state standards.

High compliance costs distort markets, raise consumer prices via higher ticket costs, and entrench incumbents. Federal preemption blocks state innovation. The knowledge problem ensures suboptimal standards that stifle technological progress. Environmental benefits are marginal relative to economic burden and unintended consequences.

Federal regulation establishing emission standards for aircraft engines, including fuel venting and exhaust emissions for various engine types (turboprop, supersonic, subsonic turbofan/turbojet). The rule incorporates by reference detailed technical standards, test procedures, and provisions for exceptions and certification.

Americans would be worse off without federal aircraft engine emission standards. Aircraft pollution crosses state boundaries and contributes to climate change and air quality issues affecting public health. A patchwork of state standards would be unworkable for the aviation industry. The regulation internalizes external costs of air pollution, aligning with core federal responsibility under the Commerce Clause to address interstate environmental harms.

This regulation implements 39 U.S.C. 601 regarding circumstances where letters may be carried outside the Postal Service's monopoly. It establishes that the Postal Regulatory Commission (not USPS) has sole authority to interpret the letter monopoly rules and promulgate related regulations, while prohibiting USPS from issuing its own rules on the matter.

This regulation perpetuates a government-granted monopoly on letter delivery, violating free market principles. The letter monopoly distorts competition, suppresses innovation, raises prices, and restricts consumer choice. The administrative procedures it establishes merely manage this anti-competitive system rather than serving any legitimate public need that private市场竞争 couldn't better provide. The unseen costs include foregone entrepreneurial opportunity, reduced efficiency, and barriers to entry that harm small potential competitors and ultimately all American consumers.