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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White House Refuses to Release Visitor Logs

On July 22, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for withholding White House visitor logs. The logs pertain to individuals who visited the White House to discuss health care policy. Some see the administration’s refusal to disclose the logs as a continuation of Bush administration secrecy.

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Reproductive Health Declines as Chemical Exposure Increases

Troubling national trends show increases in reproductive health problems as the widespread use of certain chemicals has increased dramatically. A new analysis of available data makes several recommendations for U.S. chemicals policy to address the growing health concerns and potential links to toxic chemicals. Among the recommendations is a call for greater public disclosure of chemical safety information, increased federal research on safer chemical substitutes, and removing political influence from assessments of chemical safety.

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New Version of Regulations.gov Unveiled

Jul 28, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Obama administration has launched a new version of Regulations.gov – the federally run website that allows users to comment on proposed regulations and find information in rulemaking dockets.

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USDA Cancels Summer Trip to Australia

Jul 28, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

These and other seemingly commonsensical budget cuts can be found in an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report released yesterday.

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NIH to Edit Wikipedia – A Slippery Slope?

Jul 28, 2009 by Roger Strother*

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has initiated a program to encourage its scientists to edit and create articles in the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a widely used free resource on the web often criticized for its lack of reliability that results from its open editing format.

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White House Opens Online Dialogue Concerning Cookies

Jul 27, 2009 by Roger Strother*

As a result of the Open Government dialogue the administration has conducted over the past few months, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has opened a new internet based discussion on the administration’s policy regarding the federal government’s use of web-tracking technologies. On previous government blog discussions of different topics the cookie policy was of continuous interest sparking this separate effort.

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CBPP: States May Soon Resemble Bartertown in Mel Gibson Sci-Fi Classic

Jul 24, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Here's a shock: state budgets are not doing so good. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a report today cataloging the gory details.

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Recovery Act Webinars Help Answer Recipient Reporting Questions

Jul 23, 2009 by Sam Rosen-Amy

Are you a recipient of a portion of the $787 billion in Recovery Act funding? Still confused about how you're supposed to report on your use of this money? Never fear, the Office of Management and Budget has the situation under control with a new series of webinars, all of which are focused on the new recipient reporting model.

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UPDATE: House Passes Statutory PAYGO Legislation 265-166

Jul 22, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Just a quick update on the House's effort to reinstate Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) legislation. The full House passed H.R. 2920 this afternoon by a 265-166 vote. 24 Republicans joined with 241 Democrats to pass the bill by a pretty wide margin. Only 13 Democrats opposed the legislation.

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Dashboard Info Prompts VA to Hit the Brakes

Jul 22, 2009 by Craig Jennings

A project by the nation's Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, has lead to the suspension of some 45 information technology (IT) projects at the Veterans Administration. Unveiled earlier this month, the “'IT Dashboard' is a new, one-stop clearinghouse of information that allows anyone with a web browser to track federal IT initiatives..."

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