Regular readers will recall that our new study by Casey Mulligan at the University of Chicago shows that the cost of regulations under Biden is already costing the average family thousands of dollars.

Politico reports the regulators are just getting started. The Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are separately preparing a wish list of new regulations.

“It’s coming, and it’s coming in a big way,” says Ed Egee, a vice president at the National Retail Federation.

The Labor Department is preparing to make unions happy to toughen enforcement of the Davis-Bacon law that mandates union wages on federal projects. New rules are being readied to expand overtime pay requirements for millions of workers and to make it much harder for firms to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees. That will almost certainly lead to less hiring. The administration is also trying to find a way to pass the so-called “Pro Act” that would outlaw right-to-work laws in 28 states.

The NLRB may try to make it easier to hold companies liable for labor law violations committed by their franchisees or contractors – which would act like a giant wet blanket over the growth of new franchise owners.

Here’s a good way to stop the regulatory onslaught. Cut the budgets for the regulatory octopus in Washington and use the Congressional Review Act after the 2024 elections to stop the regulations from taking effect.