White House Influence and Interference

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 Rejects NOAA Krill Rule

Nov 13, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has rejected a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed rule intended to protect krill. According to NOAA's proposal, "As the principal food source for many fish and non-fish species, krill are a critical component of the marine ecosystem."

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Latest Analyses from OMB Watch

Nov 7, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Every two weeks, in OMB Watch's e-newsletter The Watcher, we analyze a few recent issues in regulatory policy. Here are the articles from the November 6 issue: Vice President Reemerging in Regulatory Review Meetings

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Vice President Reemerging in Regulatory Review Meetings

Representatives from the office of Vice President Richard Cheney have been involved in three current administration rulemakings. Their presence is indicative of a recent trend in which Cheney has involved his office in high-profile regulations.

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Will the White House Turn Over Documents? Of Course Not.

Nov 2, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has requested from the White House documents related to the Office of Management and Budget's editing of testimony on climate change given by the head of the CDC. White House Counsel Fred Fielding responded with a letter on Tuesday. Here's an excerpt:

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White House Already Involved in EPA Plans to Regulate GHG Emissions

Oct 29, 2007 by Matthew Madia

As OMB Watch recently reported, EPA is preparing to announce the regulatory scheme it will pursue for regulating greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Supreme Court's April decision which said greenhouse gases could be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

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As OMB Reviews, Industry Voices Opposition to OSHA Regulation

Oct 26, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Thanks to the Pump Handle blog for pointing out this story. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are lobbying the White House, potentially with the aim of derailing an important worker safety rule. The Pump Handle has some background on the rule:

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Another Take on White House Edits of CDC Climate Testimony

Oct 25, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, Reg•Watch blogged about how the White House Office of Management and Budget made significant edits to the congressional testimony of Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC. Gerberding testified before the Senate on the public health impacts of climate change.

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Details on OMB's Edits of CDC's Climate Change Testimony

Oct 24, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was supposed to testify in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about the threat global warming poses to public health. Instead, Gerberding spoke in detail of preparedness and health tracking but addressed public health impacts only cursorily.

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White House Has Its Hands on EPA Endocrine Disruptor Program

Oct 23, 2007 by Matthew Madia

In 1996, Congress passed legislation mandating EPA assess the health impacts of endocrine disruptors — a class of chemicals which affect the way the body regulates mood, growth and development. Until this summer, EPA had made no progress in evaluating the chemicals impacts.

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Senate Amendment Would Threaten Federal Programs; Tell Your Senator to Vote "No."

Oct 22, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) has introduced an amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) that would threaten the budgets of important federal programs. The amendment would tie a program's budget to the White House Office of Management and Budget's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) — a flawed measure of a program's effectiveness and efficiency. Allard's amendment would make PART ratings a trigger for budget cuts. If a program is rated "ineffective" by OMB assessors, the budget of that program would be automatically cut by 10 percent.

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