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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Bush Kind Of Supports Min. Wage Increase

Dec 21, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Bush says he's for a minimum wage increase...that comes with tax and regulatory breaks for business. See the story here. President Bush endorsed one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress, a $2.10-an-hour minimum wage increase _ and on a faster timetable than they have proposed. But his support comes with a catch. Bush said at a Wednesday news conference that any pay hike should be accompanied by tax and regulatory relief for small businesses, potentially a tough sell for Democrats, who are about to reassume control of the House and Senate.

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EPA Finalizes Rules for Toxics Release Inventory

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2006—EPA finalized a rule today relaxing reporting requirements for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the country's flagship database on toxic pollution. The agency has moved forward with these changes despite findings in an OMB Watch report, “Against the Public’s Will” (released Dec. 14), that the American public is overwhelmingly opposed to a reduction in reporting on toxics.

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The 2006 Transparency Awards

For years, the Bush administration has been labeled by many as the most secretive administration to occupy the White House in decades. This penchant for secrecy has pushed the pendulum far from openness and transparency. And while the pendulum did not swing back significantly in 2006, the movement toward greater secrecy was finally challenged and slowed. The year still contained many proposals to reduce government accountability and openness.

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Are Unfair Fiscal Policies Hurting Support for War?

Dec 15, 2006 by Matt Lewis

EJ Dionne has an insightful column on a vital question that's been coming up a lot recently: how should we pay for wars? This debate began as a moral one. Dionne thinks that conservatives have paid for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in an unfair, irresponsible way. Through it all, they've supported lower taxes for the wealthy, run high deficits, and cut domestic programs.

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Americans Overwhelmingly Opposed to EPA's Plans to Cut Back Toxic Reporting

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2006--The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plans to cut back toxic chemical reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), according to a report released today. OMB Watch produced the report, titled “Against the Public’s Will,” and documented opposition from 23 state governments and more than 120,000 average citizens, 60 members of Congress, 30 public health organizations, 40 labor organizations and 200 environmental and public interest organizations. EPA's proposals would relax reporting requirements in order to reduce a perceived paperwork burden for companies that release and dispose of toxic chemicals.

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OMB Watch Questions GSA's Approach to Accountability

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2006—According to recent news reports, the new administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), Lurita Doan, has made some questionable decisions that will reduce contractor accountability and oversight at an agency needing much more of both. These decisions to undermine independent oversight and accountability mechanisms in the federal government are unwarranted and unacceptable.

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Katrina Recovery Stagnating?

Dec 14, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Brookings Institute's Katrina Index, which is still performing the invaluable task of tracking the Gulf Coast recovery, reports today that inadequate public services seem to be slowing down the pace of the recovery in New Orleans. Bad public services have may caused stagnation in the housing market particularly, as former residents have been reluctant to move back to neighborhoods that lack adequate sanitation, electricity, gas and water services.

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A Few Loose Ends

Dec 13, 2006 by Matt Lewis

On Monday, Paul Krugman wrote a good column ($) on government outsourcing. A key point: It's now clear that there's a fundamental error in the antigovernment ideology embraced by today's conservative movement. Conservatives look at the virtues of market competition and leap to the conclusion that private ownership, in itself, is some kind of magic elixir. But there's no reason to assume that a private company hired to perform a public service will do better than people employed directly by the government.

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Entitlements II: This Table Needs a Taster

Dec 12, 2006 by Dana Chasin

A Washington Post article today reprises the "table talk" from yesterday about entitlement reform.

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Entitlement Spending Solutions: Table This

Dec 11, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Entitlement growth is a growing problem, budget policymakers in Congress and the Administration agree. Time to deal with it is of the essence, with the '08 campaign soon likely to make debate on solutions too hot to handle, both sides agree. "Everything is on the table," incoming Democratic Budget Committee chairmen, Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. and Sen. Kent Conrad say. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman have not ruled anything out.

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