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

CBPP: Hardship Higher Among Black and Latino Families

Dec 4, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has written up an analysis of the Census Bureau's survey of material hardship from 2003. Among the more startling findings:

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Efforts to Undermine Contract Oversight at GSA

Dec 4, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Washington Post had a truly appalling front page article over the weekend on efforts by the administrator of the General Services Administration to undermine oversight and investigation into contracts by the agency's Inspector General (IG).

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Ornstein and Mann, to the Rescue!

Dec 1, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The dynamic duo of Ornstein and Mann have an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that's worth a read. Their highest-priority reforms to help make Congress functional again:

New ethics and lobbying rules, including an independent enforcement panel
5-day work weeks and a minimum number of weeks in session
A return of regular order to bill votes, amendments, and debate

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Contractors, FEMA Still Bungling Hurricane Relief

Nov 30, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Louisiana officials are fed up with a company contracted to administer a fund for rebuilding hurricane-damaged homes. The fund, called the Road Home Project, has $8 billion in it. But as of Wednesday last week, only 39 applicants had received anything from it -- 8 weeks after the fund got up and running. Governor Blanco has given ICF -- the contractor in charge of managing the fund -- until the end of month to issue payments to at least 10,000 applicants.

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"Emergency" Defense Bill Likely to be Anything But

Nov 29, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

More news coverage is out today on the enormous upcoming "emergency" appropriations request being developed by the Pentagon for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We previously posted (here, and here) about how the Pentagon is attempting to widen the scope of this funding request to include not only expenses related to the two wars, but anything that could be categorized under the "broader war on terror."

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Tax (Gap) Evasion

Nov 28, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

TaxAnalysts has just announced that it's suing the IRS to get suspiciously withheld documents on the tax gap. Last week, IRS commissioner Mark Everson said that IRS enforcement efforts had brought in more money, and that the IRS was paying more attention to high-income earners who avoid paying taxes. However, the IRS won't release the documents on which it's been basing these claims. So TaxAnalysts is suing them for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Contractors to Face Increased Oversight in 2007

Nov 28, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Government contractors are preparing for additional oversight, tighter regulations and responsibility rules, and perhaps even a downturn in the size of future contracts due to the Democrats takeover of Congress in 2007, according to The Washington Post.

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GAO Issues Oversight Suggestions

Nov 27, 2006 by Matt Lewis

GAO Chief David Walker has sent Congressional leaders a list of what he thinks ought to be the oversight and investigatory priorities for the 110th Congress, in addition to suggestions for budget process reforms he recently issued. The list covers 36 topics, including:

Addressing contracting problems
Overhauling the Department of Defense's wasteful business practices
Modernizing federal employee compensations systems

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House Dems Plan Loong Sloow Rolll-Out of Ethics Package

Nov 21, 2006 by Dana Chasin

We have long anticipated the follow-up to the GOP's earmarks-disclosure rule, which expires at the end of the year. Now, the House Democrats have finally settled on a strategy for rolling out their ethics and budget process reform package in January. The pieces of the package, including

Re-instatememt of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budget-making rules
Bans on lobbist-paid gifts, meals and travel
Reporting requirements on all contacts with lobbyists
Earmark disclosure (broadened to include more tax expenditures)

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GAO Budget Process Reforms: Walker Shows the Way

Nov 20, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

A GAO memo today from David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, entitled "Suggested Areas for Oversight for the 110th Congress" says that "fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path." Among the memo's suggestions are the following "needing Congressional attention": --> Reimpose caps on discretionary spending. Under caps, consider special rules for well-defined “emergency” designations. --> Reintroduce pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirements—on both the spending and revenue side of the ledger

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