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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Increased Regulation May Improve Private Pension Plans

Aug 3, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Lately there has been increased media coverage surrounding the United Airlines' recent pension default. The New York Times, in particular, has stressed in a few articles that Congress needs to take steps to regulate the pension process in order to rid it of the greed and waste that helps drive these companies' pension plans to default. United's employees, today's editorial says, collectively lost $3.4 billion in benefits in the default, and they were not "simply victims of a bad stock market and low interest rates." Instead, the unregulated pension system allowed money managers to make a number of risky investments, which eventually led to the collapse of their private pension plan, and an added burden on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The New York Times also ran this story, "How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension," on Sunday.

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Treasury Confident Debt Limit Won't Be Reached in 2005

Aug 3, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Treasury Department has told Democratic senator Max Baucus (D-MT) that the $8.184 trillion ceiling on government borrowing will not need to be raised this year, confirming speculation that the improvement in tax receipts seen in 2005 will allow Congress to avoid the politically charged issue for the first year since 2001. Despite this seemingly good news, Baucus called attention to the continually disturbing broader financial picture, noting that the debt limit has been raised four times and over $3 billion since 2002. "In the face of record deficits, the government needs to show more fiscal discipline," Baucus said in a news release. Taxing Internet Porn Speaking of tax receipts, Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and eight other democratic senators have introduced the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 (S.1507), which would impose a 25 percent tax on "Internet pornography transactions." The revenues would be dedicated to a fund to support law enforcers and organizations that combat Internet and pornography-related crimes against children. News Coverage: Arkansas News Bureau Washington Post

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Gov't Biomonitoring Study Highlights Public Exposure to Harmful Chemicals

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, the most extensive assessment ever made of the US population's exposure to chemicals in the environment. The July 21 study found troubling levels of toxics, including metals, carcinogens and organic toxics like insecticides, are being absorbed by people around the country.

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Oregon Industries Escape Public Accountability for 'Toxic Use Reduction'

Last month, Oregon lawmakers eliminated a provision in the state's Toxics Use and Hazardous Waste Reduction law that required industries to produce annual reports on 'toxics use reduction.' The annual reporting requirement was replaced with a one-time report on pollution prevention plans, in a move that has shocked and angered state environmental leaders, who pushed to expand, not reduce, reporting on and public access to pollution prevention information.

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Stakeholders Weigh In At First-Ever Congressional Hearings on Data Quality Act

The Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs held the first congressional hearing on the Information Quality Act, also known as the Data Quality Act (DQA) on July 20. The hearing reviewed implementation of the DQA at three federal agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The subcommittee also heard from interested stakeholders, including industry associations that have filed data quality challenges and public interest groups seeking the policy's repeal.

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Extent, But Not Details, of FBI Spying on Nonprofit Groups Revealed

Recent filings in a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other nonprofits expose FBI use of counterterrorism task forces to monitor and investigate the activities of groups that have vocally opposed Bush administration policies. The suit, brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeks expedited processing of the ACLU's request for records on surveillance of nonprofit groups and information about the structure and funding of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force program.

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2005 Revenue Levels and the Deficit

Jul 15, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The administration has been using the release of the mid-session revenue and the report of a lower deficit as an excuse to squawk about their excessive tax cuts causing economic growth. Simply because deficit projections were lowered to $333 instead of a whopping $427 billion for FY 2005 does not mean that Bush's tax policies have proven to be pro-growth. Instead, much of the reason for the deficit reduction lies in the fact that revenue levels are up in 2005, mainly when it comes to corporate taxation. A number of particular tax laws has led to an increase in tax collections which will prove to be more temporary, according to many analysts, than the administration is currently admitting. The expiration of a specific business tax cut along with strong capital gains returns and a concentration in nonwitheld taxes led to a 2005 surge in revenue. The surge remember, is still lower than levels of revenue which were predicted for 2005 back in 2002. To read more on how the 2005 revenue collections have affected predicted deficits, see this CBPP report.

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OMB Watch Wins in Court for Access to Risk Management Data

After almost four years of silence, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated information on Risk Management Plans (RMPs) filed by facilities with large quantities of hazardous chemicals onsite, in order to inform communities about the risks. The agency released the information to OMB Watch after the organization sued EPA for failing to respond to its request filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). OMB Watch has posted the executive summaries of the RMPs on its Right to Know Network website.

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Flaws in Delaware's Open Records Law Keep Information out of Public Hands

Illogical exemptions and poor implementation appear to be preventing Delaware's Freedom on Information Act (FOIA) from fulfilling its purpose to provide the public with access to important government-held health and safety information. Delaware's News Journal conducted an investigation into the function of the state's open records law and found significant problems and loopholes.

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Congressional Report Uncovers Chemical Security Risks Throughout the Country

An analysis prepared for Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reveals that chemical plants endanger millions of Americans in every state. The report demonstrates widespread problems with chemical security and highlights the need for a national policy that will reduce these risks.

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