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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Patriot Act Deal Compromises Civil Liberties

After two short-term extensions of the USA PATRIOT Act, Congress and the White House appear to have reached a deal on the controversial legislation. Unfortunately, the deal fails to make real progress toward protecting civil liberties.

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Tax Cuts Do Not Add to the Treasury

Feb 22, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The other day Vice President Cheney said before a group of conservatives: "The evidence is in, it's time for everyone to admit that sensible tax cuts increase economic growth, and add to the federal treasury."

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Economic Report of the President Released

Feb 14, 2006 by Guest Blogger

February 13 President Bush issued his 2006 Economic Report to Congress. The eleven chapters cover many issue areas including the workforce, retirement savings, the U.S. tax system, and the financial services sector. The chapter on taxation discussed the U.S. tax system's high corporate tax rate and double taxation of corporate profits. This attention reflects the Bush administration's dedication to extending low investment tax rates.

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Bush's Budget Plan Includes Hidden Cuts, Document Reveals

Feb 9, 2006 by Matthew Madia

An eye-opening article in today's Washington Post says that internal White House documents indicate that meeting the president's goal of cutting the deficit in half will involve a significant amount of cutting to domestic programs -- even to those supposedly "favored" by President Bush.

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Bush's Social Security Plan Rears Its Ugly Head

Feb 8, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Despite providing the State of the Union address with its only truly funny section, President Bush's Social Security overhaul plan was barely mentioned during the speech. Bush proposed instead the classic "bipartisan commission" to put off real debate and most likely push the problem to someone else beyond his presidency. Yet the much publicized and thoroughly failed policies of Social Security privitization have not disappeared. In fact, they have been included in the FY 2007 budget release.

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U.S. Government in Debt up to its Eyeballs

Feb 8, 2006 by Matthew Madia

President Bush's FY 2007 budget released on Monday allocated $441.3 billion for interest payments on the debt during fiscal year 2007. That's a huge 39 percent increase over the $318 billion spent four years ago and a 25 percent increase from the $352 billion spent last year. The president's allocation is a 11 percent increase over last year's request.

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Update: Criticism of Domestic Spying Remains Steady

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the Bush administration's policy of warrantless domestic surveillance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6. The administration's authorization of warrantless eavesdropping by the National Security Agency (NSA) on international calls of U.S. citizens has come under fire since news of the program was first leaked to the press in December 2005.

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State, Local Officials Try to Halt Federal TRI Cutbacks

Numerous state and local governments are moving to strongly oppose the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposals to relax federal chemical reporting requirements under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program. In addition to comments criticizing the EPA proposal, there have been state legislation and city and county resolutions introduced to void EPA's proposed changes.

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White House Adds Bricks to Its Congressional Stonewall

The Bush administration's pattern of doggedly withholding information from Congress seems to have garnered national attention as congressional oversight on critical issues has accelerated. The White House has refused to provide copies of internal legal documents regarding warrantless domestic spying by the National Security Agency (NSA), communications detailing when the administration learned of potential wide-spread damage from Hurricane Katrina, and information, including photos, related to the president's dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

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Openness: The Best Defense Against Bioterrorism

The National Research Council (NRC) concluded, in a recent report on biochemical research and bioterrorism safeguards, that an open and free exchange of scientific research and ideas is an important component of efforts to protect the country from a biochemical attack or accident. Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of the Life Sciences recommends several measures to reduce the risk of an attack using biological weapons or an accident involving biological agents and technology.

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