Open, Accountable Government

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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Congress Could Save TRI from EPA's Chopping Block

Congress is expected to vote on an amendment this week that would save the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) from changes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in September 2005 and expects to finalize this December. The Pallone-Solis Toxics Right to Know Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill would prevent the EPA from spending money to finalize the proposals. The amendment is welcome news to environmental, public health, first responder, and labor groups, who have mounted a campaign to compel the EPA to drop its plans to reduce information on toxic pollution.

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Playing Politics with Government Contracts

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Alphonso Jackson suggested at a forum in Dallas that federal contracts would not be awarded to those who have political disagreements with President Bush. He described a meeting with a contractor that was about to receive federal money until the contractor expressed his disapproval of the president. Jackson has since told reporters that he made the story up and that federal contracts are not awarded on the basis of political ideology.

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NSA Caught Spying Again

The National Security Agency (NSA), it was recently revealed, has been secretly amassing the largest database ever created on the telephone calling habits of millions of Americans. News of the data mining program comes as the NSA program of eavesdropping on international telephone calls without warrants remains unresolved, continuing to draw consternation and at times furor from both Congress and the public.

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Hidden Debt Limit Increase in House Budget Blueprint

May 9, 2006 by Matthew Madia

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has indicated that if he has the votes he will hold a vote on the House budget bill potentially as early as friday. Interestingly, this $2.7 billion budget plan includes language in it, as reported in today's Washington Post, that would bump up the federal debt ceiling yet again, to almost $10 trillion.

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Ray of Light Shed on Spying, Legislation Demands More Oversight

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) is harnessing the power of the purse string to challenge the Bush administration's self-appointed power of the wiretap. Specter has introduced a legislative amendment that would eliminate funding for the National Security Agency's warrantless spying program unless Congress is kept in the loop about the program's activities.

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Findings on Whales and Sonar Remain Murky

Two reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with vastly different conclusions raise questions both about the connection between Navy sonar and whale beachings and about consistency within, and the scientific integrity of, the agency.

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National Archives Reclassification Revealed

An audit conducted by the National Archives estimates that more than 8,500 of the 25,000 (or nearly one-third of) records removed from the public shelves of the Archives should not have been removed.

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Path to Chemical Security Is Clear, But Overlooked

Approximately 284 facilities in 47 states have reduced risks to nearby communities from hazardous chemicals by switching to safer chemical processes or moving to safer locations, according to an Apr. 24 report by the Center for American Progress (CAP). Preventing Toxic Terrorism highlights the need for a national program to encourage thousands of other chemical facilities to become safer neighbors through the use of alternative, inherently safer chemicals and technologies.

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Experts to Senate: EPA's Pollution Plans Stink

An Apr. 20 Senate staff briefing brought to Congress's attention concerns over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposals to reduce Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemical reporting. A diverse panel of experts discussed how the changes proposed by EPA would cripple this successful environmental program, undermine first responder readiness, impede financial investment decisions and interfere with state and local programs. Panelist were:

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Wage Gap Between Immigrant and U.S.-Born Workers Has Grown

Apr 20, 2006 by Guest Blogger

A new report, "Changing Patterns in the Relative Economic Performance of Immigrants to Great Britain and the United States, 1980-2000," finds that the gap in earnings between U.S. born and immigrant workers increased significantly between 1980 and 2000. The paper uses data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses to look at changes in the pace of the economic assimilation of immigrants. The executive summary states that the evidence suggested "that immigrants lagged farther behind US-born workers in 2000, than they had in the 1990 and 1980."

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