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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How Failure is Touted as Accomplishment

The OIRA report to Congress includes a list of what the White House touts as its “Regulatory Reform Accomplishments.” Far from being accomplishments, many of the actions on this list actually represent the gutting of important public safeguards or the release of watered-down protections.

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The Problems With Any OIRA Hit List

OIRA’s hit list project is a back-door circumvention of an honest administrative process that invites corporate special interests to take an eraser to any regulations they don’t like – even if, or especially if, the rules are in place to protect the public health, safety, civil rights, or environment.

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Manufacturing an Excuse

OIRA claims that we need the anti-regulatory hit list in order to reverse the decline in manufacturing jobs. OIRA has manufactured an excuse that does not hold up. Manufacturers do not need this extraordinary rejection of the government’s duty to serve the public interest.

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SBA Priorities for Hit List

<p>Click here to download the SBA Office of Advocacy's response to the 2004 hit list, identifying its priorities for small business.

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OIRA Final 2004 Report: Releasing Hit List

<p>Click here to download the final version of the 2004 annual report on regulatory costs and benefits, in which OIRA released the industry hit list, the White House hit list, and the White House fast-track list.

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OIRA Draft 2004 Report: Vehicle for Soliciting Hit List

<p>Click here to download the draft 2004 cost-benefit report, which was used to solicit industry nominations for the 2004-05 manufacturing sector hit list of regulatory protections to be rolled back.

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Bush's Cabinet: A Guide to the Nominees

MovinIdeas.com has created this great resource for information on Bush's second-term cabinet nominees. The site includes background, nomination status and links to analysis and articles on each of Bush's nine nominees.

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Nominee for Attorney General, An Opponent to Civil Rights

The resounding sentiment about Alberto Gonzales, Bush's nomination for Attorney General, is that "he's better than Ashcroft," but Gonzales' pending appointment still has some human rights advocates on edge. During his tenure as White House chief counsel, Gonzales has helped to craft administrative doctrine that has justified the use of torture and usurped civil rights for detainees, as well as justifying government secrecy.

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Second-Term Appointments

The following is a compilation of second term political appointments. Data was gathered using the Library of Congress legislative tracking service, Thomas, and various news sources. This is not a complete list of appointments. To search for a specific appointment, try the Thomas Presidential Nomination search engine. Department of Agriculture Confirmed by Senate Mike Johanns, to be Secretary of Agriculture, replacing Ann Veneman, resigned. Michael J. Harrison, of Connecticut, to be an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, replacing Lou Gallegos, resigned.

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Graham Defiant in Hearing, Dems Probe Mercury Rule

The last regulatory policy hearing of a House Government Reform subcommittee was split into two disconnected halves, as committee Republicans considered the White House's policy of inviting industry to suggest rollbacks of regulatory protections while Democrats assailed the Environmental Protection Agency's pending rulemaking for mercury pollution.

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