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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more news

US Owes Creditors $9,000,000,000,000.00

Nov 8, 2007 by Dana Chasin

That's 65% of GDP (and a good argument for PAYGO) A dubious milestone was passed on Tuesday, November 6, as the U.S. national debt crossed the $9 trillion mark. Don't look now (no one likes a clock watcher), but it's billions more already. At 65 percent of GDP, it could be paid off if every good and service produced in the U.S. from January 1 until September 30, 2008 were given free of charge to the nation's creditors. You can spare that nine months' worth of salary, can't you?

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The Inherent Superiority of the Private Sector

Nov 7, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Businesses are moving on ideas to incentize better quality and cost-efficient health care. Why is it taking so long for government to do the same?

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Leave Social Security Be

Nov 7, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Paul Starr explains why it's a bad idea to tinker with Social Security now- even if the solution is to raise the payroll tax.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Skeptical of Telecom Immunity

As the Senate considers legislation to address the president's surveillance powers, the Senate Judiciary Committee registered concern regarding the recent compromise brokered in the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant the telecommunications industry immunity for alleged illegal assistance with the National Security Agency's (NSA) warrantless surveillance of American citizens. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), respectively, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that immunity did not appear to be necessary, and that those alleging harm should have their day in court.

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National Research Council Recommends Greater Openness

The National Research Council of the National Academies issued a report in October calling for policies to improve government openness with regard to scientific information. The report stressed that certain government policies developed after 9/11 overly restrict access to scientific information and thereby harm scientific progress and national security.

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California Moves Forward with Greenhouse Gas Reporting

On Oct. 19, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a draft rule that would create an extensive mandatory greenhouse gas reporting system and held a public workshop to review the proposal on Oct. 31. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (A.B. 32) requires CARB to adopt regulations creating a greenhouse gas registry by Jan. 1, 2008, putting in place what appears to be the country's most comprehensive and sophisticated greenhouse gas registry.

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Consumer Products Expose Children to Toxic Chemicals

If you are worried about products exposing you or your children to toxic chemicals, don't look to the federal government for much help. The government, to a large extent, does not require companies to test chemicals for possible health effects before using them in consumer products, nor does it require that such products be fully labeled with chemical ingredients. In the absence of such government activity, public interest groups and the media have stepped into the role of testing and informing the public.

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SCHIP Is About Politics

Nov 5, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The NYT a pretty interesting article on the politics behind SCHIP, but it has big problems. First, the article makes it pretty clear that the President decided to veto this bill regardless of what was in it. He has never tried to work with the bill's designers to come up with an acceptable compromise. The veto is entirely his decision and his fault. So why then is the headline "Missteps on Both Sides Led to Health Bill Veto?" Now, who's fault is it that the veto wasn't overridden?

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Senate Approves Revised SCHIP Bill

Nov 2, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Last night, the Senate passed the latest version of the SCHIP package. The 65-30 vote (roll call is veto-proof, because enough Senators who didn't vote are reliable "yea" votes. Since the bill did not receive a veto-proof majority in the House, Congressional leaders may decide to not send the bill to the President. Instead, Senate and House negotiators appear to be working hard on a new compromise bill that could be voted on as early as next week.

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One If By Legislation, Two If By Regulation

Nov 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The House Committe on Oversight and Government Reform had a hearing today on the Bush administration's backdoor Medicaid cuts. Extremely loyal BudgetBlog readers may recall that the Administration has been pushing for rules that would cut Medicaid ever since the same cuts were rejected by the last (Republican-controlled!) Congress. I guess they haven't given up. The Administration is claiming that the rules will cut down on bad claims on Medicaid. Not so, says Chairman Waxman.

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