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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H.R. 2470 - CARFA Act

Download bill text Version introduced in House

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House Effort to Create Sunset, Results Commissions Meets Resistance

A House hearing on White House proposals to overhaul the federal government was marked by criticism of their "good government" justifications and impassioned arguments about separation of powers. The Sunset and Results Commissions The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization held a hearing Sept. 27 on two bills that advance a White House proposal for fast-track reorganization authority and mandatory program sunsets.

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OIRA Meetings on HexChrome, Dry-Cleaning Rules

Oct 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OIRA met with chemical industry representatives on Sept. 26 to discuss "the economic effects on co-residential dry cleaning facilities of proposed EPA regulations under consideration." The rulemaking in question is presumably the forthcoming proposed NESHAP rule for perchloroethylene dry cleaning facilities residual risk standards. OIRA also met on Oct. 3 to discuss OSHA's rulemaking on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium with SBA's Office of Advocacy, representatives of the metal finishing, aerospace and steel industries as well as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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EPA May Be Next for Power to Waive Law

The push to establish an Imperial Presidency kicked into overdrive when Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced a bill that would give the Environmental Protection Agency the power to waive or weaken the law for matters related to Hurricane Katrina.

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Industry $$ Helps Studies Think Positively About Drugs

Sep 30, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The argument was originally just common sense but is now empirical: drug company studies are far more likely to give high ratings to drugs than those conducted by government. The New Standard reports as follows:

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New OSHA Head: Another Fox in Henhouse?

Sep 29, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The e-mail-only NYCOSH Update on Safety and Health has this report about the nominee to head OSHA: Bush Nominates Partner in Union-Busting Law Firm and Big Contributor to Head OSHA Edwin Foulke was nominated last week to become the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Foulke’s main qualifications for the job are that he is a labor lawyer and was chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) for five years in the early 1990s.

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No-Bid Contracts: a No-Good Idea

Sep 29, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out the latest article from two GW law professors on efforts to make no-bid contracts and other erasures of procurement law the rule rather than the exception in natural disasters and other crisis events. From the abstract:

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OMB Watch Testifies on Sunset/Reorganization

Sep 28, 2005 by Guest Blogger

OMB Watch testified yesterday before a subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee against House bills that would implement the White House's proposal for mandatory program sunsets and powers to reorganize government at will. >Read the press release >Download the testimony

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Government 'Reform' Threatens Public Protections, OMB Watch's Robert Shull Testifies Today

Washington -- Sep 27, 2005 -- Government reorganization cannot come at the expense of public protections, according to testimony by Robert Shull, OMB Watch's regulatory policy director, to be delivered today before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization.

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Testimony on H.R. 3276 and H.R. 3277, Sunset/Reorganization Bills

Testimony on the House bills implementing the White House's proposal for government shutdown powers via automatic sunsets and for reorganization authority. Download the testimony from the Sep. 27, 2005 hearing before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization of the House Committee on Government Reform.

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