Setting and Enforcing Regulations

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Bill for DHS to Waive All Law Rides on Iraq War Supplemental

The House of Representatives voted to attach H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act — a bill that includes a dangerous provision empowering the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all law when securing the nation’s borders — as a rider to the Iraq war supplemental, which passed the House and now is moving to the Senate. The House decided on March 16 to attach H.R. 418 as a rider by voice vote and subsequently voted out the must-pass supplemental with a vote of 388-43.

read in full

House Committee Approves Government Performance Rating Bill

The House Government Reform Committee favorably reported out of committee the Program Assessment and Results Act, a bill that would have the effect of codifying the administration's controversial tool for rating program effectiveness. The bill is expected to move to the House floor this spring. The committee voted 18-14 to send the bill to the House floor during a March 10 markup session, after rejecting every amendment offered by committee Democrats.

read in full

White House Endorses Parts of Anti-Regulatory Hit List

The White House released the final version of its 2004-05 anti-regulatory hit list, with a report detailing 76 out of 189 items from the industry-nominated list that received the endorsement of the White House and agencies.

read in full

GOP Threatens to Turn ‘Unfunded Mandates’ Into Roadblock

Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have fired the first shots in an upcoming battle to turn the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act into an insurmountable obstacle to legislation designed to address unmet needs. House Republicans fired first by launching a series of hearings, and Senate Republicans followed up with an under-the-radar section in the budget resolution that uses UMRA to make it harder to pass laws such as an increase in minimum wage or improvements in civil rights protections.

read in full

How Mandates are Identified

Download Congressional Budget Office report, "Identifying Intergovernmental Mandates" (Jan. 6, 2005)

read in full

UMRA Language in Budget Resolution

Download section 403 of Senate budget resolution, which would convert UMRA points of order into 60-vote roadblocks.

read in full

Alexander Remarks on Unfunded Mandates

Relevant excerpts and full text of remarks by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) before the National League of Cities, addressing reforms to UMRA

read in full

OIRA releases final hit list and new reg report

Mar 11, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Wednesday was a big day for OIRA: the office released both the final selections from the industry-nominated hit list and this year's annual draft report on the costs and benefits of regulations. Hit List: What the White House released is a selection of 76 out of the original 189 anti-reg nominations for the hit list. These are the hit list suggestions that the White House and the agencies are endorsing as anti-regulatory priorities.

read in full

EPA's Rigged Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Mar 8, 2005 by Guest Blogger

EPA's use of cost-benefit analysis in developing proposed mercury control regulations was deeply flawed, according to a GAO report released yesterday. The report examined how EPA used different variables when comparing different proposals so that the cost-benefit analysis was weighted towards the industry-preferred cap-and-trade method. GAO identified "four major shortcomings in the economic analysis underlying EPA's proposed mercury control options:"

read in full

Cap-and-Trade

Cap-and-trade is a method for controlling a variety of pollution emissions by setting an emission standard for polluters and then allowing polluters to trade emissions up to a certain cap. This industry-friendly approach has had moderate success in controlling pollution without putting "undue burden" on industry. However, it is often opposed by environmentalists and public interest groups because while lowering the overall emissions levels, it may increase harmful emissions in some areas. Hot Spots

read in full