New Posts

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

  UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Regulatory Accounting Passes House, But Veto Threat Remains

For the past three years, Congress has passed an appropriations rider mandating that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) conduct a cumulative cost-benefit analysis for the entire regulatory system. The House passed legislation on July 26 that would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) -- with the help of the agencies -- to conduct a cumulative cost-benefit analysis of the entire regulatory system. However, with 157 voting against the measure, there would be enough votes to sustain the expected veto should it get to the president's desk.

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Federalism Bill Stalls in House, Moves to Senate Floor

The House Committee on Government Reform shelved a scheduled markup on Thursday after failing to round up enough votes to pass out legislation that seeks to curtail federal preemption of state and local laws through a number of sweeping -- and potentially dangerous -- legislative strokes. Not only did the public interest community weigh in with strong opposition to the bill (H.R. 2245), but so too did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In a letter to committee members, the Chamber stated, "H.R.

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Waiving Federal Requirements:An Analysis of H.R. 2376

Under the bill, agencies would have to develop an "expedited" process to waive a state's statutory or regulatory requirements under a federal grant program if another state has recieved a "similar" waiver. On Nov. 4, 1999, the House Government Management, Information and Technology Subcommittee marked up H.R. 2376, a bill that addresses waivers of regulatory and statutory requirements. It is expected that the bill will be considered by the full Government Reform Committee during the next session of Congress, followed by expedited floor consideration.

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Graham Pushes Regulatory Priorities in President's Budget

As administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) -- which has authority to review and possibly reject or amend agency regulatory proposals -- John Graham is pressing agencies to adopt particular analytical methods to assess regulatory costs and benefits that would rig the result and undoubtedly lead to less protective health, safety, and environmental standards.

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Graham Rejects Tire Safety Standard

Using his review authority as administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), John Graham rejected a rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that would have required automakers, by 2007, to install a system in all cars that would alert drivers when their tires are under-inflated.

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Objectionable Riders Proposed to Treasury-Postal Appropriations Bill

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) is pushing a rider that would require OMB to conduct a cumulative cost-benefit analysis of all agency rules and paperwork -- referred to as regulatory accounting -- on a permanent basis, each and every year. Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is pushing a rider requiring OMB to conduct an expansive study of federal paperwork. Both of these riders are unrealistic, time-consuming, and are likely to give a distorted picture of the regulatory landscape.

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Bill Text H.R. 3521

Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act of 2000 (Introduced in the House January 24, 2000) 106th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 3521 To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for a report by the General Accounting Office to Congress on agency regulatory actions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 24, 2000 Mr. MCINTOSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

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Bill Creates GAO Office to Analyze Agency Rules

On Jan. 24, Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN) introduced the "Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act" (H.R. 3521), which seeks to establish an office within GAO to review agency rulemakings at the request of Congress. A Senate version (S. 1198) has already been reported out of the Governmental Affairs Committee, and is awaiting floor action. Bill Summary

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Comments on OMB's Draft Report on Regulatory Accounting

Mr. John Morrall III Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs NEOB, Room 10235 1725 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20503 Dear Mr. Morrall: On behalf of Citizens for Sensible Safeguards, a broad-based coalition of consumer, labor, environmental, and other public interest groups, I am writing to provide comments on OMB's draft report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulations. As you know, we strongly oppose the idea of regulatory accounting.

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Take 2: Another Bill Creating GAO Office to Analyze Rules

On Feb. 16, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) introduced the "Congressional Accountability for Regulatory Information Act" (H.R. 3669), which seeks to establish an office within GAO to review agency rulemakings at the request of Congress.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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