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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Transparency of OMB Meetings under Fire

Apr 11, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Ellen Smith, editor of Mine Safety and Health News, has an opinion piece in today's North County Gazette (NY). The issue is private OMB meetings that too often include special interests and shut out the American public. Smith argues these meetings result in biased decision-making placing Americans (in her example miners) at risk. More important is the loss of transparency in the decision-making process — a fundamental democratic right. Read the column here.

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Dudley on the Editorial Pages

Apr 6, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Susan Dudley's recess appointment is the subject of editorials in this morning's Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Let's compare and contrast.

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Lieberman Unhappy with Bush Choice to Bypass Senate on Dudley

Apr 5, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, President Bush recess appointed Susan Dudley to be the White House's regulatory czar. The announcement comes just days after Senate members indicated they would consider the Dudley nomination in the normal fashion. Sen. Joe Lieberman isn't happy with the president's blatant disregard for checks and balances. Lieberman chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee, which was responsible for Dudley's confirmation. A spokeswoman for Lieberman, Leslie Phillips, released the following statement: The Administration's decision to recess appoint Susan Dudley shows

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Bush Recess Appointment Threatens Public Protections

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2007—President George W. Bush today installed Susan Dudley as White House regulatory czar through a recess appointment. Dudley will now serve in the White House Office of Management and Budget as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

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Meet Your New OIRA Administrator, Susan Dudley

Apr 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

President Bush just installed Susan Dudley as White House regulatory czar through a recess appointment. Dudley will now serve in the White House Office of Management and Budget as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Dudley is a triple threat when it comes to the federal regulatory process.

First, she is ideologically opposed to regulation of any kind. She is likely to roll back countless public protections, and will be loath to support any new rulemakings.

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Latest Watcher

Apr 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time: OMB Manipulated Climate Science, Report Says Miners Detail MSHA's Failings in Emotional Testimony FDA Issues New Conflict of Interest Guidelines

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Dudley to be Appointed Today, WSJ Reports

Apr 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) is reporting President Bush will recess appoint Susan Dudley to be White House regulatory czar, and that the move is likely to occur today. Meanwhile, the Washington Post's "In the Loop" column is reporting Sen. Joe Lieberman's committee in charge of the nomination will move to consider Dudley sometime after the recess. Reg•Watch reported similar rumors last week.

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Bush's "Fox-guarding-the-henhouse Personnel Plan"

Apr 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

In today's Washington Post, Ruth Marcus wrote a column deriding the Bush administration's "fox-guarding-the-henhouse personnel plan," in which friends of industry and GOP insiders are rewarded with powerful government jobs.

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OMB Manipulated Climate Science, Report Says

Political officials throughout the Bush administration have edited and manipulated climate science communications, according to a recent report by a nonprofit watchdog group. Evidence shows the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to be involved in the manipulation.

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More OMB Manipulation of Climate Science

Mar 28, 2007 by Matthew Madia

As Reg•Watch blogged earlier, the Government Accountability Project released a report detailing Bush administration political interference in climate science. The report includes evidence of manipulation by OMB. For example, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is supposed to be a clearinghouse for accurate and up-to-date climate science produced by agencies. Unfortunately for the American people, OMB is one of the overseers of CCSP. According to the GAP report, OMB and other political offices sit on a panel that must approve CCSP communications. The panel has approved startlingly little information. It is worth noting that since 2004, CCSP has cautiously produced and posted on its website only five fact sheets and two research summaries, all ranging from two to four pages in length. It issued eight press releases — three of which were administrative announcements — and held one workshop on November 14-16, 2005. Furthermore, with the exception of three press releases, CCSP has not produced any new material as of January 2006. That's not much product from a staff of 14. (Current staff-level according to CCSP website).

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