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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Results of OMB Watch FOIA Request on Information Withheld

OMB Watch submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to a number of federal agencies asking for a list of any information removed from agency web sites in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and any criteria used in making decisions to remove such information. The following inventory is based on responses we have received thus far, giving particular attention to EPA; it will be updated as we receive more information from those agencies that have not yet responded.

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Stop Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax

This alert provides background information on the estate tax and 5 action steps you can take to help prevent repeal of the estate tax. Read through the alert and then contact your Senators through this legislative link -- the talking points included in this alert are also available there to provide suggestions for your letter or call to your Senators.

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Agency Data Quality Guidelines Issued

In the last two weeks, most agencies covered by the Paperwork Reduction Act published proposed guidelines to implement the Data Quality Act, which was passed as a rider to an appropriations bill. The agency guidelines are to comport with guidelines developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier this year. The list of agency guidelines is available online. Most agencies provide until the end of May to submit comments on the guidelines.

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No Alternatives for TOP and CTCs Available in FY 2003

On May 20, the federal Community Technology Centers (CTC) program is expected to release it's third grant notice, to help create and expand technology access within the context of educational opportunity and lifelong learning for the public in underserved and economically distressed urban and rural areas. This may, however, also be the last grant notice for the program.

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Secrecy at the EPA

On May 6, 2002, President Bush granted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman the authority to classify information as "Secret." This order was published in the May 9, 2002, Federal Register. The delegation of this authority is provided in accordance with Executive Order 12958 of April 17, 1995, entitled ''Classified National Security Information.''

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Critical Infrastructure Information Sign-on Letter

Click here to view a sign-on letter circulated on the hill on May 7, 2002, urging senators to oppose the Bennett-Kyl legislation (S. 1456) that would require the government to keep confidential any information turned over "voluntarily" by industry regarding "critical infrastructure."

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Super-Waiver Update

The "super-waiver" has made its way through both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. The two bills will have to be joined in the Rules Committee and will likely be on the House floor the week of May 13. The current list of programs eligible for the super-waiver remains small but significant -- CCDBG, TANF, SSBG, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Wagner-Peyser (Employment Services), and the Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals program ? and it is possible that other programs could be added.

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The Deficit is Growing! The Deficit is Growing!

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has issued its latest report on the FY 2002 budget deficit, which is now expected to reach up to $100 billion.

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Update: Super-Waiver is the Wrong Tool for the Job

Since being introduced as part of the TANF reauthorization bills earlier this month, the President’s "super-waiver" provision has undergone several significant revisions. The original provisions included in Rep. Wally Herger's (R-CA) H.R. 4090, and Rep. Buck McKeon's (R-CA) H.R. 4092, TANF bills allowed for governors to request a waiver of any statute or rule applied to any program in the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education. All that would be required of the governor was a proposal showing how the waiver was neutral in cost. The Secretary of the petitioned department would have 90 days to sign off on the proposal, and if the state received no response within 90 days, the proposal could be deemed approved.

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We Cannot Make Estate Tax Repeal Permanent

Estate tax repeal proponents, unwilling to postpone their agenda to eliminate the country’s most progressive tax, even in the face of an ever-increasing number of costly national priorities and an estimated $100 billion deficit for this fiscal year (see related story, this issue), have continued to push for permanent repeal at every opportunity.

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