"No one even knows how many Executive Branch agencies there are – estimates range from 60 to 438 – much less how many new rules they implement and impose each year. Officially, [CEI's Clyde Wayne] Crews says, they issued a staggering 3,554 new rules in 2014, while President Obama signed 'only' 226 new laws enacted by Congress. Worse, of the 53,838 (!) formal final regulations included in the Federal Register from 2001 through 2014, only 160 (0.3%) received a 'cost-benefit' analysis; we have no idea how the rest affect us."
It kind of depends upon the sub-agencies within agencies, so getting a firm handle on just how many exist is a rather daunting task. But the regulations, written by armies of unelected bureaucrats, have the full effect of law, despite the fact that law-making is supposed to be the purview of Congress, and Congress alone. Spooky.
This really needs to be brought back under some semblance of control.
