How Government Works

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

House Moves to Give More Access for GAO, SIGTARP, and the Public

While the attention of many transparency advocates has been focused on the first round of recipient reporting under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Act), the House has been working on two financial transparency measures dealing with the Federal Reserve and use of the Wall Street bailout funds.

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OMB Watch Unveils Recovery Act Recipient Reports Database

On Dec. 3, OMB Watch released a beta version of a new database on FedSpending.org that gives the public improved access to and searchability of Recovery Act recipient report data. The database allows users to search more than 160,000 reports from recipients of almost $159 billion in Recovery Act contracts, grants, and loans awarded between Feb. 17 and Sept. 30.

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OMB Watch Welcomes New Standard of Openness Heralded by Obama Administration's Open Government Directive

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2009—OMB Watch applauds the Obama administration's latest effort to create a more open and accountable government: the release of the Open Government Directive. The directive has been in development since the first day of the Obama administration, when the president issued a memo tasking OMB and other key officials to develop the directive.

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Secret Holds Continue in the Senate

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a Washington, DC-based watchdog group, recently called upon the Senate Committee on Ethics to investigate the ongoing use of secret holds. The organization contends that senators have failed to abide by Section 512 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), which ended the use of secret holds. The group requested the committee discipline senators from both parties who have failed to abide by the procedures, as well as issue guidance to govern future conduct.

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Open Government Directive to be Released During Live Webcast - 11am, 12/8

Dec 7, 2009 by Roger Strother*

The open government directive is scheduled to be released at 11am on Dec. 8. The announcement will be made in a live webcast hosted by US CIO Vivek Kundra and US CTO Aneesh Chopra. There will be a live forum following the announcement so that citizens may give feedback and ask questions. Please watch the live announcement here or on the White House website and check back with the OMB Watch blog for more analysis. Dowload the directive here [PDF].

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OMB Watch Launches Recovery Act Data Tab on FedSpending.org

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2009—Today, OMB Watch released a beta version of a new database on FedSpending.org that gives the public improved access to and searchability of Recovery Act recipient report data. The database allows users to search more than 160,000 reports from recipients of almost $159 billion in Recovery Act contracts, grants, and loans awarded between Feb. 17 and Sept. 30.

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Congressional Action Succesful in Blocking Judicial Release of Torture Photos

Nov 30, 2009 by Roger Strother*

On Nov. 30, Congress and the President succeeded in tying the hands of the judicial system from releasing photographic evidence of American soldiers torturing detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Supreme Court today reversed a lower court ruling that the pictures must be released.

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House Sheds Light on Member Expenses

Nov 30, 2009 by Chris George*

In an unprecedented move to increase congressional transparency, as of 1 pm this afternoon, the House of Representatives Statement of Disbursements is available online.

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Technology Sector Increases Its Presence in Open Government Dialogue

In addition to nonprofit organizations, educational groups, and individual advocates, corporations have recently begun to stake out positions in the ongoing open government dialogue. Among these private sector actors are Adobe, Google, and Microsoft. These new voices are putting both money and technological resources behind an effort to advance the Obama administration’s commitment to transparency.

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MSNBC’s Dubious Insinuation of Job Data Manipulation

Nov 12, 2009 by Craig Jennings

A paragraph in an article written by Mike Stuckey on MSNBC.com insinuates that the White House manipulated the Recovery.gov job count total to match its previous claims of job growth numbers. I can't tell if Stuckey simply has his facts wrong, is intending to mislead to create controversy, or has been misled by an unscrupulous source.

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