Political 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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Latest Watcher

Dec 6, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Reg policy articles this time: Supreme Court Wades Through Decision on Climate Change FDA Negotiates Increase in Drug Industry User Fees

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Good News on Dudley

Dec 6, 2006 by Guest Blogger

According to the Federal Times, the Dudley nomination may be indefinitely on hold: The nomination of President Bush’s controversial pick to head the government’s regulatory policy office is dead, according to a leading Republican senator. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the committee considering the nomination, said she decided not to bring the nomination of Susan Dudley to a vote this month by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She said she did this because of the lack of time remaining in this Congress and opposition to Dudley’s nomination from Democrats.

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Collins Decides Not to Seek Vote on Dudley

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced Dec. 6 that she would not seek a vote in committee on the controversial nomination of Susan Dudley to be the next regulatory czar. In a news report, Collins, chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said that there was little time left in the 109th Congress to act, and Democratic opposition made the vote impractical.

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FDA Negotiates Increase in Drug Company User Fees

Amidst concerns raised by public interest advocates, the Food and Drug Administration is negotiating with drug industry representatives to increase controversial user fees, according to news reports.

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Democrats Pledge Ethics Reforms

Two weeks after the election, attention has turned to considering what the results mean for government priorities and the likely impacts on the way Congress operates. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are working on an agenda for the 110th Congress that includes ethics and lobbying reform proposals as part of their "100 Hours" initiative. As incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "We will start by cleaning up Congress, breaking the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go, no new deficit spending."

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Senate Committee Set to Vote on Dudley for Regulatory Czar

The Senate is likely to vote in December on the nomination of Susan Dudley to be the new regulatory czar, according to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Despite widespread criticism from the public interest community on the nomination, a confirmation hearing in which Dudley evaded disclosing much about her views, and new concerns about a perception of a conflict regarding her husband serving as head of an office that writes environmental regulations, it appears that Collins's committee will move forward with the nomination.

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Dudley Evades Democrats' Probes in Hearing

Nov 15, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Monday's hearing on the nomination of Susan Dudley to be the new director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in OMB did little to reveal Dudley's positions on a variety of issues. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the current chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, was the only Republican member of the committee to attend the hearing. The incoming chair, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), did not attend the hearing but submitted an extensive list of questions to Dudley prior to the hearing.

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Boxer Threatens to Put Hold on EPA IG Nominee

Nov 14, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Susan Dudley isn't the only controversial nominee that might be snuck through during the lame duck session. According to CongressDaily, future chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), is threatening to put a hold on the nomination for the Environmental Protection Agency's nominee for Inspector General. The IG is responsible for sussing out waste, fraud and abuse in the agency.

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Industry Opposes EPA's Smog Reduction Proposal

Nov 7, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this past weekend that industry is stridently opposing an EPA recommendation to reduce ozone, often referred to as smog. EPA released the recommendation in a staff paper last July. For a summary, click here. The staff paper recommends tightening ozone emissions by lowering the allowable limit to 0.07 parts per million (ppm). The current limit is 0.08 ppm, set in 1997.

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Reducing Burden Without Reducing Protections

Oct 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Small Business Administration launched a website last week to help businesses make their way through the regulatory maze. Business.gov is the first government website to bring all federal regulatory information under one roof. Over 20,000 compliance-related documents from 94 agencies are available at business.gov, and the website is fully searchable by industry or topic. Unlike industry efforts to weaken or eliminate regulations, compliance assistance can save businesses money while maintaining needed protections.

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