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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Patchwork Improvements Continue for E-Rulemaking

Several federal government websites have recently incorporated changes that better highlight regulatory issues and expand online access to rulemaking information. However, the changes appear independent of one another, not parts of a conscious effort by the Obama administration to transform the government's beleaguered e-rulemaking systems.

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Last-Minute Changes Will Improve Air Pollution Monitoring, EPA Says

Feb 17, 2010 by Matthew Madia

Allegations that the White House watered down an EPA rule on air pollution monitors are false, according to a senior EPA official who says the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) actually made the rule stronger.

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Webcast Thursday: The Administration's Approach to Lobbyists

Feb 16, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

The Washington Post reports that, "President Obama is escalating his war on K Street, proposing a series of tough restrictions a year after he first issued policies aimed at tamping down the influence of lobbyists." On Thursday, Feb. 18 OMB Watch will host a webcast where panelists will discuss a review of the administration's efforts to reform lobbying and ethics during the past year.

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Annual Cost-Benefit Report Gives Clues to Regulatory Changes

The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) annual report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulations provides clues to the changes the Obama administration will seek in the regulatory process. While the report includes some important changes to the way agencies might approach calculating the impacts of new rules, it does little to suggest that major changes to the central role OMB plays in the process are likely.

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What is the Obama Administration’s Record on Regulation?

Feb 4, 2010 by Matthew Madia

Today at 3 p.m., OMB Watch will be webcasting a panel discussion titled, The Obama Administration and Public Protections: A First-Year Regulatory Assessment. The panel discussion will address whether regulatory agencies are being proactive on a number of important issues, such as workplace safety, consumer protections, and the environment.

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President and Congress Continue to Respond to Citizens United

Feb 3, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

Earlier this week Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, wrote a blog post defending President Obama's call for legislation restricting foreign corporations from getting involved in federal elections. As evidence, Eisen references news reports that discuss a lobbying campaign on behalf of subsidiaries of foreign corporations.

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OMB Watch Calls on the Obama Administration to Revise Regulatory Process

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2010—President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to executive department heads and agencies on Jan. 30, 2009, calling for a revision to the principles guiding the federal regulatory process. The memo required agencies to submit within 100 days recommendations for a new executive order. The memo also precipitated a call for public comments by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to gather the public's ideas for reforming the regulatory process. At the one-year mark of his administration, OMB Watch calls on the president to complete this process by issuing a revised executive order.

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Obama Seeks More Lobbyist Disclosure

Jan 28, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

During President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, he said he came to Washington "to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; to give our people the government they deserve. [. . .] That's why we've excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs, or seats on federal boards and commissions." However, as a group of nonprofits have recently noted, in the process of attempting to limit the influence of special interests, the administration has successfully "[excluded] the voices of citizen- and community-based organizations."

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White House Meddling in EPA Rule on Air Pollution Monitors

Jan 28, 2010 by Matthew Madia

Update (02/17/10): "Last-Minute Changes Will Improve Air Pollution Monitoring, EPA Says."

It’s looking more and more like the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) overruled the EPA in a decision to place more air pollution monitors near major roadways.

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EPA Sets New Standard for Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution

Jan 26, 2010 by Matthew Madia

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday revised the national air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide for the first time in 35 years. In addition to the annually-measured standard (which EPA actually kept the same) the agency will, for the first time ever, enforce a one-hour standard intended to limit short-term exposure to NO2. The new one-hour standard is set at 100 ppb (parts per billion).

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