Lobbying and Ethics

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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Pressure to Pass Lobby Reform Grows

No one is certain when Congress will leave for its summer recess. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said the Senate will recess only when it has passed several high profile bills, including lobby reform. Progress on this legislation has stalled because Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has used parliamentary procedure to stop Reid from appointing the Senate conferees. One solution to the problem may be that the House and Senate pass identical bills to avoid a conference. However, reform groups have raised concerns about this process, since it may result in weakened legislation.

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Ethics & Lobbying: Novak Op-Ed in a (Time) Warp

Jul 23, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Bob Novak writes in today's Washington Post that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), is "plotting to strip anti-earmark transparency from the final version of ethics legislation passed by the Senate and House." While Novak does not identify -- and it is impossible to guess -- what earmark provision he has in mind, he nevertheless chastizes Reid, warning that frayed Senate relations "may get worse if plans to eviscerate ethics legislation are pursued."

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Lobbying and Ethics -- a Conference-Free Zone?

Jul 19, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Congressional Democratic leadership, no doubt exasperated over GOP holds blocking the lobbying and ethics bill from going to conference -- months after overwhelming passage by both houses -- now apparently plans to circumvent the bill's conference process entirely. Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): "I've done everything but get on my knees and beg for [a conference]."

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Many Hurdles Lay Ahead for Ethics and Lobbying Reform

Jul 19, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

After much frustration in trying to send the ethics and lobbying reform legislation to conference committee, RollCall ($$) reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have decided to abandon the normal conference committee process and will use a parliamentary tactic rarely used to push the legislation. According to the article, the plan would be that the House and Senate votes on identical language without amendments attached to circumvent the conference process.

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DeMint Putting Senate's Summer Vacation on "Hold"?

Jul 17, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is apparently single-handedly holding up the Senate's lobbying and ethics reform bill with a hold keeping it from going to conference over a pet provision that he wants guaranteed will be included in the conference committee's final version.

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Earmarks II: OMB "Database" Tracks FY08 Bills

Jul 12, 2007 by Dana Chasin

A Citizen's "Consumer Report" This week, OMB announced a new feature to what it terms its "earmarks database" -- data showing estimates of the number and cost of earmarks in the individual FY 2008 Appropriations bills as they move through the legislative process. We road-tested this database here at OMB Watch and give it one thumbs-up.

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"Move Lobby Reform Legislation Forward"

Jul 11, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

OMB Watch has released a press statement in response to recent actions that have blocked the Senate from going to conference on lobbying and ethics reform legislation. The latest Watcher has an article on the fruitless attempts to send the measure to conference.

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OMB Watch Joins the Call to Move Lobby Reform Legislation Forward

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007—OMB Watch joins with the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and other organizations in strongly condemning current efforts to block the Senate from going to conference on lobbying and ethics reform legislation, which the Senate passed in January.

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Earmark Dispute Delays Lobbying and Ethics Legislation

Jul 10, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Congress has now returned from the July 4th recess and efforts to send lobbying and ethics legislation into conference committee were once again blocked. These events are a repeat of what occurred right before the recess. The Politico reports on the struggle Democratic leaders will face, especially from Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) who is insisting that the earmark disclosure provision is not altered during conference. However, Democrats simply see this as a means to block the ethics reform bill.

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The Capuano Coma -- No Act of Commission

Jun 29, 2007 by Dana Chasin

For several months, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) has been responsible for leading the task force charged with reporting a recommendation to Speaker Pelosi about creating an independent commission to hear and advise on ethics complaints against members of the House. The Capuano task force has stopped meeting, according to Congressional Quarterly ($). Apparently, "some Democrats ... fear that a change in the current ethics process would leave them vulnerable to politically motivated complaints." As opposed to the status quo?

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