Recent field hearings in five major U.S. cities highlighted the debate over the need to write a more stringent air quality standard for ozone. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under court order to issue an updated standard by March 2008. Industry representatives used two familiar arguments to urge EPA to leave the existing ten-year old ozone standard untouched, while public health experts and citizens argued the health impacts under the current standard are potentially devastating.

The public and the media are paying more attention to and showing increasing frustration with the anti-regulatory ideology of President George W. Bush. A new report by the Center for American Progress traces several recent failures of the federal government to the anti-government views of Bush and senior administration officials. Separately, increasing concern over the federal product safety net is causing many to question Bush's seriousness about using government resources to protect American consumers.