Government Performance

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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more news

Worker Safety Threatened

Jul 11, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The package of bad OSHA bills introduced earlier this year is scheduled for a House vote on July 12. AFL-CIO gives analysis of the four bills:

H.R. 742 Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act - This bill requires taxpayers to pay the legal costs of small employers (defined as employers with 100 or fewer employees and up to $7 million net worth) who prevail in any administrative or enforcement case brought by OSHA or any challenge to an OSHA standard, regardless of whether the action was substantially justified.

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Bush Commissions May Usurp Congressional Authority

Jul 1, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Yesterday, the Office of Management and Budget sent a legislative proposal to the House and Senate seeking to establish results and sunset commissions to review the effectiveness of government programs then institutionalize procedures to fast-track their recommendations through Congress. This proposal would imperil the balance between the executive and legislative branches by concentrating power in the White House free of democratic accountability and would expose long-standing public protections to powerful special interests and industry insiders. It also has serious implications for the budget process as well as the authorizing and appropriating role of Congress over the long-term. OMB Watch has released the following statement critical of the president's proposal: White House Power Grab Puts Public at Risk More information about the proposed commissions: Results Commissions Sunset Commissions Rolling Stone article: Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet

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Senate Investigates the Program Assessment Rating Tool

On Tuesday, June 14 the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security held a hearing on accountability and results in federal budgeting. Specifically, the hearing was held to investigate the specific metrics and tools used by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to measure the effectiveness of federal programs, the advantages and disadvantages of using these systems of measurement, and how information obtained is used to increase accountability in federal budgeting.

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Testimony On Government Performance Issues

Jun 16, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

On Tuesday, there was a hearing before the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security (a subcommittee of Homeland Security) on performance measures and how they are used in the federal budget process. Dr. Beryl Radin, who has worked extensively on PART and other government performance and management issues, testified before members of the committee, specifically Sens. Carper (D-DE) and Coburn (R-OK). Her testimony can be read here.

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DeLay Announces Delays in Budget Process Reform

Jun 14, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

House Majority Leader DeLay today said floor consideration of the budget process bill spearheaded by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), and other conservatives has been delayed. "We've been put back just a little bit because we've asked a lot of the Appropriations Committee and a lot of [Appropriations] Chairman Lewis," DeLay told reporters today. "He's a vital part of budget process reform, and he's asked us to sort of give him a leave of absence until he gets all 11 appropriations bills done." Lewis has said repeatedly he will have all 13 appropriations bills finished by the July 4 recess in three weeks. Hensarling's bill would give the budget the force of law, as well as eliminate the practice of emergency spending bills, limit entitlement spending, and establish a committee to study waste, fraud, and abuse. DeLay said he was hopeful they could introduce a bill before the August break, but did not elaborate on a deadline. Read the latest Watcher article on these proposed budget process reforms.

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Senate Hearing Today on Govt. Accountability and Results

Jun 14, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Today at 2:00 pm in Dirksen 562, there is a hearing before the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs regarding accountability and results in federal budgeting. The hearing will focus on the specific metrics and tools (e.g., the Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART) used by the OMB to determine the effectiveness of federal programs, the advantages and disadvantages of using these metrics, and how information provided by these metrics is being used to increase effectiveness and accountability in federal budgeting. Witnesses include GAO Comptroller David Walker, OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson III, Research Fellow on government accountability issues Eileen Norcross, and Professor of Government and Public Administration at the University of Baltimore Dr. Beryl Radin. OMB Watch recently wrote an op-ed on PART, the President's tool for managing federally funded programs. The op-ed finds that FY 2006 budget cuts were made based on ideology?not on a measured, objective system of program evaluation.

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House Considers CDBG But Avoids Attacking PART

In the wake of the White House's attempt to put the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program on the chopping block, a House subcommittee held a hearing to determine whether a program as diverse and flexible as CDBG could be evaluated using OMB's one-size-fits-all performance measurements. Factors Influencing the Hearing

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OMB's 2006 PART Performance Measurements for Community Development Block Grant

Rating: Ineffective 1.1 Is the program purpose clear? Answer: NO Question Weight: 20% Explanation: The program does not have a clear and unambiguous mission. Both the definition of "community development" and the role CDBG plays in that field are not well defined. Evidence: Throughout CDBG's legislative history there has been ambiguity between flexible, steady funding given to localities and the requirements to benefit low- and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods.

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Rolling Stone Article on Sunset Commission

Apr 27, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

An article on the OMB's "Sunset Commission" appeared in the last issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Gary Bass and Bob Shull are quoted in the article discussing the Program Assessment Rating Tool and Bush's Sunset Commission. Check out the article: Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet The article has also been widely discussed on the blog "Daily Kos." To read the discussion on the article, click here.

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Allard Looks Into GPRA for Legislative Branch

Apr 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, is interested in looking to apply the Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) to the legislative branch of the government. Currently, GPRA is a program that requires federal agencies to set goals and measure results through annual performance report. For more information on GPRA click here. Allard wants to see legislative agencies follow the GPRA, noting during a hearing yesterday, "I want to look into whether we apply all of the formulating in the GPRA or just a part of [it]." His interest in seeing GPRA applied to legislative agencies was fueled by a funding request for FY 2006 from the Library of Congress which is significantly higher (7 percent) than the funding request was for FY 2005. The GPRA ideally would be used to evaluate programs and the resources necessary to run them effectively. Allard indicated that he will need to spend time discussing this idea with other members of the Committee before it goes anywhere. To read an article in The Hill on this issue, click here.

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