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

Caution on Health Care Costs?

Mar 29, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Tom Paine has an odd post up about health care costs. The argument, I think, is that we need to be careful containing health care costs because the industry generates many jobs, and health care costs are high, generally, because of demand. The predatory lending industry provides jobs, too. It's costs are quite high, yet there is demand for its products. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't cut those costs, right? This passage bugged me, too:

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Health Care's A Budget Issue Now

Mar 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Jesse Jackson has a good editorial on the African American children being left behind by federal policy. One passage I thought needed playing up: We need longer school years and far better teachers, and teacher education. We need less discrimination in spending, in discipline, in advanced placement. Some of this costs money. But, Williams says, we're not spending the money we currently have well. For example, our broken health-care system is killing school budgets. Health-care costs are going up 10 to 15 percent a year, far outstripping normal increases in public funding.

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The New Senate PAYGO Rule

Mar 26, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The new Senate pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rule adopted last week as part of the budget resolution makes some key changes to the previous version, created in the FY04 Budget Resolution. It:

creates a point of order against legislation that would worsen the deficit for any of the following time periods: FY07, FY08, the five-year period from FY08-12, or the five-year period from FY13-17
remains in effect through 2017

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What to do about one-sided budget debate?

Mar 23, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Dean Baker makes an interesting point on how the debate over the long-term budget imbalance is very one-sided. There are many experts who think that the problem really is that the health care system is broken and that the solution is to fix it, but they rarely get public attention.

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RTK NET Publishes 2005 Toxics Release Inventory Data

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007—The Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) published the 2005 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data on March 23, 2007, providing public access to important U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data on the release and transfer of toxic chemicals in the United States. This is EPA's earliest release of the annual TRI data in the history of the program.

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CBPP: Tax Cuts Bad For The Economy

Mar 20, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is arguing that repealing the tax cuts would be good for the economy. Bush & Co. like to claim that the tax cuts are magic, and that failing to extend them will be a disaster for the economy. They're wrong, and it's great that CBPP is pointing this out.

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Open Government Legislation the Focus of Sunshine Week

Sunshine Week is an annual effort by the media, civic groups, libraries, universities, legislators and others to highlight the importance of open government. During this year's Sunshine Week (March 11-17), many legislative proposals to increase government oversight and transparency moved forward in Congress. The bills address contractor responsibility, environmental information, Freedom of Information Act reform, whistleblower protections, and other important aspects of an open and accountable government. Contractor Responsibility

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Journalist Audit Underscores Lack of Transparency

An audit by journalist groups found that public access to Comprehensive Emergency Response Plans (CERP), as required by law, was inconsistent and unreliable around the country. Only 44 percent of the requests for the CERP were granted in full, whereas 20 percent were partially released and 36 percent were completely denied.

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Report Finds Underreporting and Abuse of USA PATRIOT Act Powers

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported on March 9 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been systematically underreporting National Security Letter (NSL) requests and has repeatedly violated federal law and agency policies in collecting personal information. The report unleashed a firestorm on the Hill, with calls for reform of the USA PATRIOT Act.

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EPA Looking at Labs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun a review of its laboratory network that may result in significant closures, according to some early agency plans. In response to budget cuts, EPA intends to reduce costs at least 20 percent by 2011. According to EPA officials in a phone briefing on March 15, the review is to assess the efficacy of the lab network, eliminate duplicative programs or efforts, and increase overall efficiency.

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