Republican legislators, now fully in control of both chambers of Congress, are set on making good on campaign promises to reign in federal spending. Over the next few months, Everything Policy will analyze deficit reduction proposals from both parties, offering a facts-first analysis of expected savings and real-world impacts. This first brief shows how the budgeting process used by Congress can work against building partisan consensus around deficit reduction.

Every year, federal bureaucrats implement roughly 100 major policy changes through a process known as rulemaking. At first glance, rulemaking seems like a way to bypass elected officials and make policies away from public attention. Why do bureaucrats have this power? What safeguards exist to prevent bureaucrats from misusing their authority?

In our past briefs, we have explored unauthorized immigration, its recent increases, and where migrants tend to settle in the United States. We've also analyzed the relationship between migrant populations within specific communities and violent crime rates. While our research wasn’t intended to suggest that migrants don’t commit crimes, available data does suggest there is no direct connection between overall crime rates within communities with higher numbers of migrants. This brief extends our analysis to consider a less serious but more common crime: car theft.