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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Contracting out Our National Identity

May 2, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, Reg•Watch blogged about a conflict-of-interest controversy at the National Institutes of Health. A scientific consulting firm which prepares the Report on Carcinogens has a client list including, in addition to NIH, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.

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Latest Watcher

May 2, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time: OSHA's Lack of Standard Setting under Fire White House Tightens Grip on Regulatory Power Grab House Subcommittee Steps Up Oversight on Regulatory Changes

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House Democrats Continue To Try and Hash Out Fixes for Long Awaited Lobbying Bill

May 2, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

According to CongressDaily, House Democratic leaders met yesterday to work on the stalled lobbying and disclosure bill. The Judiciary Committee held one hearing in March on the bill the Senate passed in January, but no legislation has yet to be introduced. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) accurately commented; "It's a time crunch. No doubt about it. It's May 1 already," and he has expressed plans to mark up the bill as soon as possible.

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Drug Importation Could Derail PDUFA Reauthorization

May 2, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, Reg•Watch blogged about the various amendments to the Senate PDUFA reauthorization bill. An additional provision has become the subject of political wrangling. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) support a provision which would allow importation of drugs from Canada and the European Union. Yesterday, OMB released a statement indicating the president would likely veto PDUFA reauthorization if it included such a provision.

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MacDonald out, but Scientific Integrity Concerns Remain

May 2, 2007 by Matthew Madia

In March, Reg•Watch blogged about Julie MacDonald, one of the Bush administration's political minions who was manipulating environmental science to meet political ends. Yesterday, the Interior Department announced MacDonald's resignation. Interior is right to hold MacDonald accountable for her transgressions, but, as The New York Times reports, the move comes as the House Natural Resources Committee prepares to hold an oversight hearing next week on scientific integrity.

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Scientific Contractor Besmirches RoC's Good Name

May 1, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The National Institutes of Health are once again under fire for relying on scientific consultants with industry ties. In March, OMB Watch reported on a contractor essentially running an office which researches reproductive health. In this instance, the potential for irresponsible contracting is jeopardizing one of the federal government's most important scientific products — the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). NIH hires the Constella Group to prepare the RoC which is intended to be an authoritative study on the most significant cancer-causing substances to which humans are exposed.

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OSHA's Lack of Standard Setting under Fire

This year's Workers Memorial Day, April 28, included criticism of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — the federal regulatory body charged with ensuring worker and workplace safety. On Capitol Hill and in the media, critics chided OSHA for not fulfilling its mission and falling behind in promulgating new standards to protect the American workforce.

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White House Tightens Grip on Regulatory Power Grab

The White House has released a memo instructing agencies on how to implement President George W. Bush's recent changes to the regulatory process. OMB Watch had anticipated the release of such a memo due to the need for clarification of certain controversial provisions within Bush's executive order. However, the memo offers little new information and further confounds issues in some areas.

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House Subcommittee Steps Up Oversight on Regulatory Changes

A House subcommittee held a second hearing April 26 on the regulatory changes President George W. Bush issued in January. Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller (D-NC) hoped to discover the reasons that the White House issued the changes, but the hearing turned stormy as Miller's inquiries were repeatedly rebuffed by an administration official. After tense exchanges with the official, Miller promised to seek additional documents from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and to hold additional hearings on regulatory changes "that affect the lives of millions of Americans."

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"Calling All Germane Amendments!": PDUFA Negotiation in the Senate

May 1, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Senate leaders on food and drug regulation continue to wrangle over provisions of the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). A Senate Committee reported PDUFA to the Senate floor two weeks ago. Because PDUFA expires in September, and because the funds it provides FDA are necessary for the agency to operate, the reauthorization legislation is considered a must pass. That makes it a golden opportunity for Senators to attach all sorts of additional provisions.

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