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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OMB Watch to Testify Before Congress on Paperwork Reduction Act

Group maintains that reauthorization should be a step into the 21st Century, not a step backward
Congress should not use reauthorization of the Paperwork Reduction Act as an occasion to keep the public in the dark and threaten existing regulations that protect health and safety, and the environment, OMB Watch will tell Congress today. Instead, it should be an occasion to promote information technologies that reduce costs to government, make compliance easier for industry, and improve transparency.

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Cop off the Beat

Mar 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The latest NYTimes article on MSHA should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed this administration's enforcement record; the Bush administration has reduced penalties for mine safety violations in order to better relations with industry. From the article: In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.

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Lobby Reform & Grassroots Lobby Disclosure: Good for Nonprofits

Lobby and ethics reform discussions in Congress could prove to be a significant opportunity to level the current uneven playing field, where wealthy interests have inordinate access to lawmakers and voice in public policy debate. Successful reforms would change this dynamic, giving individuals and groups lacking enormous resources, like most nonprofit organizations, a more equal chance of being heard.

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White House Pushes for Sunsets, Reorganization Power

The White House used its annual budget submission yet again as a platform to call for policies that would distort the management of government programs. Both the budget submission that was released Feb. 6 and the follow-up document detailing programs slated for elimination or deep cuts reiterated the White House's call for sunset and reorganization authority legislation.

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Lobby Reform Continues to Overlook Budget Process

As Congress toils through the process of establishing self-regulation of lobbying and ethics issues, most proposals continue to overlook budget process reform that is critically needed to address corruption and open the process in Washington. Despite new legislation recently introduced that to some extent addresses the role of the budget process in the larger reform picture, no proposal gets all the parts right, nor does any go far enough to truly have a significant impact.

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Lobbying Disclosure Act

<p>Click here to download text of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

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Is Your Organization Subject to the Lobbying Disclosure Act?

<p>Click here for background information, courtesy of NPAction.

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Some Bad Ideas Never Die

Feb 9, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The White House's recent budget submission included yet another call for sunsets (forcing programs to stop their work every 10 years and plead for their lives) and reorganization powers (to develop government reorganization plans to be rammed through Congress on a fast-tracked, take-it-or-leave-it basis). And today's release of the volume detailing programs to be eliminated or slashed also repeats the call.

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Foxes in the Henhouse: OSHA, MSHA Nominees Appear Pro-Industry, Anti-Worker

Employing an all-too-familiar strategy, the White House has put forward two industry-insiders as its nominees for the top posts at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

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Admin Pushing for e-Gov

Feb 6, 2006 by Guest Blogger

It's about time: OMB makes new case to win Hill support for e-gov Having failed over the past 4 1/2 years to convince Congress of the virtues of e-government, the Office of Management and Budget is making an unprecedented attempt to sell the idea to lawmakers and secure funding for fiscal 2006. -from Government Computer News Actually, the lead is a little generous to the administration. The administration is accused of unorthodox maneuvers in passing the hat to agencies to fund e-rulemaking, and Congress ever so gently slapped the administration for it.

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