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

Income Inequality: Terms of the Debate

Sep 15, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Paul Krugman crystallizes the issue of income inequality(sub. req'd). Yet in spite of all this technological progress, which has allowed the average American worker to produce much more, we’re not sure whether there was any rise in the typical worker’s pay. Only those at the upper end of the income distribution saw clear gains — gains that were enormous for the lucky few at the very top.

read in full

Government Receives Poor Grades on Secrecy

Government secrecy continues to expand across a broad array of agencies and actions, according to a new report from OpenTheGovernment.org. The Secrecy Report Card 2006 is the third of its kind produced annually, reviewing numerous indicators to identify trends in public access to information.

read in full

States Group Resolved Against EPA's Plans to Cut Toxics Reporting

On Aug. 29 the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) passed a resolution urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its proposals to reduce reporting under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The resolution, by a national association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders, underscores the fact that states are firmly opposed to the EPA's plans to cut the national pollution reporting program.

read in full

Senate Finance Committee Looks at Executive Compensation Excesses

A Sept. 8 Senate Finance Committee hearing demonstrated that a 1993 tax code reform has failed to curb the growth of extravagant CEO compensation packages. In fact, the reform created loopholes that have opened the door for outrageous salaries and bonuses, and unscrupulous behavior by company executives and boards of directors. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vehemently denounced the loopholes in the tax code created by the 1993 reforms.

read in full

Five Years Since 9/11: More Secrecy, Less Security

Monday marked the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, yet the government's efforts to secure the nation against another terrorist attack have been minimal, leaving the country's chemical plants, ports, and other installations dangerously unsecured while increasing secrecy and intrusion into civil liberties.

read in full

DHS Fails to Protect Critical Infrastructure

On Sept. 1, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule for procedures for handling information about critical infrastructure. The rule amends the interim rule issued in February 2004, for which OMB Watch submitted comments. Unfortunately, DHS ignored OMB Watch's suggested modifications, and the final rule opens the door to misuse by the private sector, allowing companies to restrict public access to information that is vital to protecting public health and safety.

read in full

Getting Congress to Punch the Clock

Following Congress's failure to pass meaningful lobby reform, the Sunlight Network has launched a two-month grassroots campaign to increase transparency about the actions and activities of our elected representatives. The Punch Clock Campaign offers rewards to the public for persuading lawmakers to post their daily schedules on the internet.

read in full

Senate Committees Stand Up To Corporations...Maybe

Sep 6, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Wall Street fatcats, beware! The Senate Finance and Banking Committees are watching you, and they're sick and tired of your greedy, cheatin' ways. Seriously. They each called hearings today on executive compensation.

read in full

Mortgage Bills Come (Past) Due

Sep 1, 2006 by Craig Jennings

While wage increases have failed to outpace inflation, real housing prices have nearly doubled in the past ten years. Astronomical housing prices made it impossible for many families to purchase a home. The market responded by introducing and aggressively marketing new mortgage "products" like ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages) and interest-only loans. These mortgages made monthly payments affordable, but their continuing affordability hinged on two things: 1) that interest rates would not rise and that 2) the housing market continued to sizzle.

read in full

New CBPP Paper on Min. Wage

Aug 31, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Another sad anniversary is coming up. Tomorrow is the 9-year anniversary of the last time the minimum wage was raised. For the occassion, the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have a new paper on the minimum wage. On relative poverty: For example, in 1978, even before the gap [between executive pay and the minimum wage]began to grow quickly, the average CEO was still paid 78 times as much as a full-time year-round worker earning the minimum wage. By 2005, the average CEO was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner; this is the widest

read in full