Congressional Operations

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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Senate Quietly Passes Bill to Hide Torture Evidence

Jun 18, 2009 by Roger Strother*

On Wednesday night, the Senate quietly passed legislation to exempt photographs of detainees being tortured by U.S. personnel from the Freedom of Information Act. Further stunning the spirit of open government, they did so by unanimous consent.

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Pelosi Moves to Make House More Transparent - Revisiting the Subject

Jun 4, 2009 by Roger Strother*

Since my last post on this issue, I’ve discussed the topic with a few different people and wish to clarify some things. I think that Congressional transparency is a good thing, currently anemic, and that efforts such as this one by Pelosi represent positive positioning by Congress on the subject. However, there is little information concerning the form the data from the government will be released in and I’m sure those who received Pelosi’s letter are figuring out that process now.

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Pelosi Moves to Make House More Transparent - Will it Screw Up?

Jun 4, 2009 by Roger Strother*

On June 3, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the House’s administrative manager to put Congressional quarterly expense reports online as soon as possible. These reports, traditionally available only in the form of three-volume bound sets, contain expense data for member spending. The letter from Pelosi can be found on the Speaker’s blog, The Gavel, and represents an unprecedented level of Congressional transparency…if they do it right.

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Obama Administration Views Torture Transparency Inconsistently

May 21, 2009 by Roger Strother*

On May 21, President Obama gave a speech defending his administration’s controversial positions on national security and transparency. Despite his campaign promise to bring change and accountability along with greater transparency, some open government advocates have been worried that his actions have not lived up to the hype.

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BREAKING: Lieberman Looks to Make Detainee Photos Indefinitely Secret

May 21, 2009 by Roger Strother*

Sen. Lieberman (I-CT) has submitted an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 which would withhold any “photograph relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States” if the Secretary of Defense certifies that the release of the photos could endanger citizens or the armed forces. This incredibly broad statement could cover photos of all detainees captured in any future actions taken by the U.S. military. If passed, these government records which belong to the people would no longer be available under FOIA.

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Hope for Intrepid Earmark Hunters Everywhere

May 21, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Last week I wrote about the short-sighted decision by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) not to require members to disclosure their earmark requests for the 2009 Transportation reauthorization bill. As I noted, this decision is a step backward in the House on earmark transparency and disclosure - as the Appropriations committees have adopted more strict disclosure protocols for all appropriations bills this year. Despite this setback, there is good news to report this week.

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Earmark Transparency Takes a Step Backwards

May 13, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

I came across an article ($) in Roll Call this morning detailing the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's plans for submitting and posting earmark requests for the next transportation reauthorization bill, which is likely to be worked on this fall. The Committee, under the now suspect leadership of Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), will roll back earmark transparency protocols adopted by the House and Senate Appropriations committees in January this year. Hasn't Oberstar gotten the message? Transparency is all the rage these days.

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Gary Bass Testifies Before House Committee on Recovery Act

May 5, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

OMB Watch's Gary Bass testified this afternoon at a Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight hearing, "Follow the Money Part II: Government and Public Resources for Recovery Act Oversight."

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NSA Leaks Info to Embarrass Elected Congresswoman

Apr 21, 2009 by Roger Strother*

In a brazen and sophomoric act, the National Security Agency (NSA) spied and then released information on Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), a member of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk, in what can only be an effort to discredit her.

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Technological Ineptitude in Congress is Just Sad

Apr 9, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Earmarks has become the new four letter word in Congress of late, with most members rhetorically castigating earmarks while quietly slipping in earmark requests for funding in their districts to committee staff, in conference reports of bills, and anyplace else they can stick them.

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