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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

DHS Internal Investigation Shows No Misuse of Resources

Last week, an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigation cleared the department of any wrongdoing when it used federal resources to track down Texas Democratic state legislators in a partisan battle last month. As reported in a June 2 Watcher article, the Democrats fled the state in order to avoid quorum for hearings on redistricting. The department’s Air & Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC) was called in order to track down a private plane belonging to one of the lawmakers.

read in full

Secrecy wins in court, but excesses exposed

The courts recently addressed government secrecy in a set of actions that yield mixed results for government efforts to carve out a bigger zone of secrecy in open society in the name of national security.

read in full

Homeland Security Links

Government Links Executive Branch Department of Defense Homeland Defense Page Department of Homeland Security National Security Agency National Security Council White House Homeland Security Page Legislative Branch House Select Committee on Homeland Security The U.S. General Accounting Office Homeland Security Page Partners These coalition partners have been working together to examine the implications of the Homeland Security Act and to protect information access and open government.

read in full

Homeland Security News

News Resources Department of Homeland Security Press Room Federal Computer Week Homeland Security news Government Computer News Homeland Security news Homeland Security Project Resource Page Office of Homeland Security News Archive Washington Post Homeland Security News News Articles "Homeland officials grilled on whether money is adequate" CongressDaily (05/13/03) "Roadmap for Homeland Security Department takes shape" National Journal's Technology Daily (05/08/03) "Senator seeks flexibility for first responders"CongressDaily (04

read in full

Fact Sheets on the Homeland Security Act and CII

Side-by-Side of the Restoration of Freedom of Information Act of 2003 and the Homeland Security Act of 2003 (03/12/03) OMB Watch Factsheet on Secrecy and Immunity Provisions (08/29/02) 10 Key Differences: Levin-Bennett amendment and the Administration/House approach (07/25/02) U.S. PIRG Memo entitled "Bush Administration Concedes that New FOIA Exemption Unnecessary" (07/17/02) Homeland Insecurity? Chemical Safety and the Homeland Security Department (07/08/02)

read in full

Economy and Jobs Watch

Two recent economic reports show the depth of economic mismanagement by the Bush administration. First, it was reported last week that the unemployment rate has risen to 6.1 percent in yet another indication of the poor state of the labor market. Second, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that it expects the current year’s budget deficit will be around $400 billion.

read in full

CIA Memo Stands Up for Secrecy

In an unclassified memorandum by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), entitled “The Consequences of Permissive Neglect”, a senior official on the agency’s Foreign Denial and Deception Committee, James B. Bruce, called for a targeting of the news media, making them legally accountable for leaked information that they publish.

read in full

The House Takes Up Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax

After hijacking the child tax credit with add-ons that inflated the cost to $82 billion, House GOP leaders continue this month in their headlong rush to drain resources from government by cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy. The campaign has just moved from the outrageous to the egregious.

read in full

Child Tax Credit: The Poor as Political Theatre

The story is confusing. How did it end up that some Democrats voted against the House bill extending the refundable child tax credits to the 6.5 million low-income families who got left out of the latest tax break for the wealthy?

read in full

First Amendment Under Attack from Anti-Terrorist Measures

The Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Initiative, launched soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, recently released a report detailing the effects that policies adopted in response to the terrorist threat have on the First Amendment. The report, and its various signatories, clearly recognize and support the federal government’s objective to protect Americans from terrorist threats, attacks, and activities. However, the Initiative members also acknowledge the vital importance of the fundamental rights and values protected by the First Amendment.

read in full