Today, the Democratic leadership in Congress released their long-awaited compromise lobbying and ethics bill - The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (text of the legislation). The bill is 107 pages long, but already there has been some criticism of changes to the bill, particularly the earmark disclosure sections (see Mark Tapscott's reaction and the Porkbusters blog for a sampling). Two Senators, Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) - whose amendment to the bill earlier this year on earmark disclosure greatly strengthen the bill - have also posted disappointing reactions. At first glance it does appear the final version of the bill is not as strong (i.e. transparent) as the original and it is unclear why those changes were adopted at this point in the debate. DeMint has announced he will offer an amendment during final consideration of the bill to "restore real earmark reform." It's yet to be seen whether that amendment will be adopted of if this version is the best the House and Senate will be able to do this year.

Merrill Goozner, a health economist/journalist, gets deep responding to an article on the unevenness of cancer treatment. A few of his thoughts on one cancer drug:

While the Senate and House are both deliberating renewal of the SCHIP program, they have each offered bills with significant differences. Here's a brief summary to keep it all straight. House Senate 2008-12 2008-17 2008-12 2008-17 Covered children who would otherwise be uninsured 5 million 4 million Cost (billions of dollars) 47.8 159.9 35.2 71.0 Revenue Increase (billions of dollars) 27.0 53.8 36.1 72.8 Tax increase per pack of cigarettes 45¢ 61¢ Families USA has a more detailed side-by-side indicating differences other than cost and revenue scoring.

After former head of the IRS Mark Everson announced in April he would be leaving to head up the American Red Cross, just last week the IRS announced Everson's would-be successor Kevin Brown is also bolting the IRS for the American Red Cross in September. Replacing Brown will be Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff, who will assume the position of Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement and in that capacity will serve as IRS Acting Commissioner.