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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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Earmark Transparency Takes a Step Backwards

May 13, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Kool-Aid ManI 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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EPA Back in the "Fishbowl"

In a recent memorandum to employees, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined broad principles of transparency that will govern the agency's interactions with the public. By promising to operate EPA as if it were "in a fishbowl," Administrator Lisa Jackson reinstated a principle many considered ignored by the previous administration. Jackson also announced measures to promote transparency in EPA's economic stimulus activities.

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Recovery Act Transparency in 51 Flavors: A Sample of State Recovery Act Websites

An informal OMB Watch survey of eight state-level Recovery Act websites reveals that the access to and quality of information on Recovery Act expenditures varies widely from state to state.




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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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Do-It-Yourself Government?

Apr 30, 2009 by Gary Bass*

According to reporting by Aliya Sternstein at National Journal’s NextGov, Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, has a new idea when it comes to government soliciting public input on government policy: Do it yourself.

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RAT Board and NAPA Host Recovery.gov Dialogue

Apr 27, 2009 by Craig Jennings

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Academy of Public Administration are hosting a week-long, online dialogue around the question "What ideas, tools, and approaches can make Recovery.gov a place where all citizens can transparently monitor the expenditure and use of recovery funds?"

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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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Coalition for an Accountable Recovery Submits Comments on Recovery.gov Guidance Memo

On April 17, the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery (CAR) submitted its comments on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) April 3 memo, "Updated Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009." The memo is a supplement to a previous set of guidelines issued Feb. 18 to federal agencies on the implementation of the Recovery Act. CAR notes that OMB’s efforts are laudable and that the guidance is helpful in advancing transparency and accountability with regard to Recovery Act spending. However, the coalition also argues that the guidance still needs modification for meaningful transparency and accountability to be realized.

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CAR Coalition Materials on Recovery Act Implementation

Apr 21, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

The Coalition for an Accountable Recovery (CAR), coordinated by OMB Watch, has been hard at work monitoring the implementation of the Recovery Act. Last Friday, April 17, the coalition submitted comments on the proposed implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). OMB Watch also produced a summary of the guidance for the coalition and released it publicly on April 10.

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Sixth Annual Ridenhour Awards Honor Truth-Telling, Courage

The Sixth Annual Ridenhour Awards were presented April 16 by the Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation. The awards are presented each year to journalists and whistleblowers in honor of Ron Ridenhour, a former Vietnam veteran who exposed the 1968 massacre at My Lai. The awards are given to those who act to protect the public interest and promote social justice. The 2009 awardees were Thomas Tamm, Bob Herbert, Jane Mayer, and Nick Turse.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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