You're reading the special April Fools' Day, 2008, edition of The Watcher.

The Bush administration and congressional leaders agreed to begin negotiations over the Clean Waterboarding Act of 2008 that Congress passed April 1. The key sticking point is the administration's objections to leaving the responsibility for implementing the act to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to Congress, EPA is the agency that sets U.S. water quality standards and is therefore the most appropriate agency to ensure that, if domestic sources are used for waterboarding, the water is "clean." The administration wants the Justice Department (DOJ) to have the authority to implement the act because DOJ has the legal responsibility for justifying other torture tactics, and the agency can oversee the use of waterboarding in international settings. Since President Bush has stopped short of threatening a veto, an agreement with Congress is expected soon.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced March 12 its revision to the national air quality standard for ozone, or smog. While the new standard is an improvement, EPA did not go as far as its own scientists had recommended. Last-minute changes orchestrated by the White House have also mired the rule change in controversy. In addition to the new standard, EPA proposed legislative changes to the Clean Air Act, which environmentalists and lawmakers immediately criticized.