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

The Rule of Secret Law in the Bush Administration

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on the proliferation of secret law in the Bush administration. In particular, the subcommittee focused on the role of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the Justice Department in the development of secret law governing the executive branch.

read in full

EPA Official Forced Out for Being Effective

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 administrator Mary Gade felt the full force of Dow Chemical's influence in Washington when on May 1, she was told to resign or be fired by June 1. Gade, who used to represent industries and often advocated against increased regulation, was on the other side of protracted negotiations with Dow over clean-up of dioxin contamination at its plant in Midland, MI. Gade chose to resign following the ultimatum.

read in full

Entitlement Panel Legislation Unlikely This Year

May 13, 2008 by Craig Jennings

CQ reports ($) that Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) has cast serious doubt on the probability that legislation to create a commission to look at Social Security and Medicare reform will make any progress this year. Conrad had hoped to have a committee markup for the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act of 2007 (S. S 2063), but has been convinced there is scant appetite in Congress for any such measures.

read in full

Monthly Budget Review: April, 2008

May 8, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Receipts from tax returns filed by the April 15 deadline were about 6 percent higher than such receipts last year, about what CBO anticipated when it prepared its most recent budget projections in March. Nevertheless, the federal government recorded a deficit of $151 billion for the first seven months of fiscal year 2008, CBO estimates—$70 billion more than the shortfall incurred in the same period last year. ...

read in full

UI Extension: Does the Unemployment Rate Matter?

May 7, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Since the beginning of the year, when talk of a recession was first heard, Congress has been debating whether or to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by 13 weeks -- as it has done during every single recession, with one exception, for the past 50 years.

read in full

Fed Chief's Opinions on Foreclosure Remedies Differ from Frank Bill Oponents

May 6, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Congressional opposition to the Frank housing bill is coalescing around apparently dubious propositions ($). [Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)] also took aim at the [Rep. Barney] Frank proposal. "This bill perversely rewards those who borrowed more than they could afford their monthly mortgage payments get reduced with the government footing the bill. How is that fair to the millions of Americans who worked hard and paid their mortgages on time? And who ends up holding the bag if all goes south? No surprise, the American taxpayer."

read in full

1Q08 Economic Conditions: the Good, Bad, and Ugly

Apr 30, 2008 by Craig Jennings

By and large, the Bureau of Economic Analysts (BEA) at the Department of Commerce announced this morning an estimated GDP figure for the first quarter of 2008 of 0.6 percent -- the exact same figure as the last quarter of 2007 -- which pushes us back from the brink of "official" economic recession, though we are by no means out of the woods. The BEA report includes this summary analysis:

read in full

Farm Bill Proposes Food Safety Improvements

The huge farm bill reauthorization under discussion among House and Senate conferees contains two food safety-related items that could help regulatory agencies better protect the U.S. food supply and provide consumers with more information when making purchasing decisions. First, the bill contains country-of-origin labeling, primarily for marketing livestock by-products. Second, it proposes a bipartisan food safety commission to review the existing food system and make recommendations for improvements.

read in full

Bill Requires Disclosure of Product Defects

In an effort to improve transparency following litigation on defective products, the House last week introduced the Sunshine in Litigation Act (H.R. 5884).

read in full

Report Documents Political Meddling with Science at EPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists are faced with widespread political interference that has significantly increased under the Bush administration, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shows. Hundreds of the scientists surveyed (60 percent) reported some degree of political meddling, ranging from unnecessary delays to forced resignations.

read in full