White House Influence and Interference

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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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National Research Council Strongly Objects to OMB Risk Assessment Bulletin

A Jan. 11 National Research Council (NRC) report found the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin to be "fundamentally flawed." The report contained concerns similar to those raised by OMB Watch and Public Citizen in comments submitted in August 2006. OMB asked NRC to review the document after its release in January 2006. NRC suggested the Bulletin be withdrawn completely. Following the release of the report, OMB announced that it will go back to the drawing board to "develop improved guidance for risk assessment."

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President Bush Amends Federal Regulatory Process

On Jan. 18, President George W. Bush issued amendments to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review. The most notable of the changes will require federal agencies to: implement a stricter market failure criterion for assessing the need for regulation; require agencies to develop a summation of total costs and benefits each year for all proposed regulations; install a presidential appointee as agency Regulatory Policy Officer; and subject "guidance documents" to the same White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review process as regulations. Bush's amendments do not have the force of law but significantly change E.O. 12866, which figures prominently into the nation's regulatory process. The amendments will impact the way in which federal agencies go about creating rules and enforcing laws.

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Bush Administration Undermines Public Protections with Executive Order Amendments

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2007—On Jan. 18, President Bush issued amendments to Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, which further centralize regulatory power in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and shift it away from the federal agencies given this power by legislative enactments.

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President Bush's Changes to Rulemaking Process Undermine Public Protections

Jan 18, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Read OMB Watch's preliminary analysis here.

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Undermining Public Protections: Preliminary Analysis of the Amendments to Executive Order 12866

On January 18, President Bush issued amendments to Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, which further centralize regulatory power in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and shift it away from the federal agencies given this power by legislative enactments.

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OMB Watch Urges White House to Heed National Research Council Recommendations on Risk Assessments

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007—OMB Watch today urged the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to heed recommendations in a Jan. 11 National Research Council report that found OMB's Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin was "fundamentally flawed."

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Nation's Top Scientists Strongly Reject OMB's Regulatory Guidance

Jan 11, 2007 by Matthew Madia

This morning, the National Academy of Sciences rejected the White House Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin. OMB charged NAS with the task of peer-reviewing the bulletin, and NAS issued a stinging rebuke. The Bulletin calls for an overly standardized method across all agencies of assessing the potential risks of regulatory action. No matter if the issue is the environment, consumer products, or massive buildings and infrastructure, the framework would be the same.

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Presidential Runaround on Dudley

Jan 11, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Last night, President Bush named Susan Dudley a senior advisor in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), according the Wall Street Journal. This decision comes one day after the president renominated the anti-regulatory Dudley to be OIRA administrator.

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Dudley Renominated to Head OMB Regulatory Office

President Bush renominated Susan Dudley on Jan. 9 to be administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Dudley was nominated to the same position in 2006, but the Senate failed to confirm her due to intense opposition from public interest organizations and a lack of support for her nomination in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).

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Dudley Renominated to be Regulatory Czar

Jan 10, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Last night, President Bush renominated Susan Dudley to the position of administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) — the powerful regulatory arm of the White House. Has President Bush been reading Reg Watch? In two Monday blogs (here and here), Reg Watch chided the Bush administration for considering naming the controversial nominee, who failed to win confirmation last year, an OIRA senior advisor.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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