Every year, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) request public comments on recommendations for their Guidance Priority List to identify tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other guidance for the year. OMB Watch recently submitted comments that urge the IRS to prioritize the creation of a bright-line definition of prohibited political activity for tax-exempt charities and religious organizations. Such clarity is particularly important given recent findings that IRS agents have not properly differentiated between permissible advocacy and activities that are considered partisan election intervention.

There has been a flurry of activity on USAID's Partner Vetting System (PVS) in the aftermath of the 90 day delay for implementing the final rule, now scheduled to take effect on Aug. 4, 2009. It would require USAID grant applicants to submit detailed personal information on key individuals to the government to be checked against secret watchlists. In May 2009, a State Department official indicated the rule may be expanded to include contractors, the sponsor of legislation to mandate PVS will not pursue her bill and a GAO report found vetting in current USAID programs in Gaza and the West Bank has improved.

The General Accountability Office released U.S. Public Diplomacy: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight on May 27, 2009. It finds weaknesses in U.S. international communications efforts and notes that the President must issue a new comprehensive communications and public diplomacy strategy by December 2009. Recommendations call for a "clear definition of the problem, desired results, and a delineation of agency roles and responsibilities." Development of a new strategy creates an opportunity for the U.S. nonprofit sector to urge greater recognition of the role of philanthropy and aid and development programs in countering violent extremism, and development of policies that encourage and facilitate that work.

On May 17, 2009, the Des Moines Register reported that they obtained confidential documents that show an FBI informant infiltrated an anti-war group that met in Iowa City before the September 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC). Additionally, an undercover sheriff's deputy from Minnesota travelled to Iowa to attend an anti-war conference and collect information on a group planning to protest at the RNC in St. Paul. The documents raise concerns about whether the FBI was attempting to suppress political dissent and activism.