OMB Watch has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to deny a request from the Department of Health Human Services (HHS) to conduct a national survey of Head Start program executive salaries and travel costs because it duplicates information HHS already has and places an unnecessary burden on Head Start programs. The survey was HHS’s response to a request from two members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, which asked for a “review of the financial management of Head Start grantees nationwide.” See the full text of the OMB Watch Comments.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking comments on an existing final regulation, Public Inspection of Exempt Organization Returns. The Internal Revenue Code section 6104(b) authorizes the IRS to make available to the public the returns required to be filed by exempt organizations. As part of the Department of Treasury’s continuing effort to reduce the paperwork and respondent burden it is inviting the general public to take this opportunity to comment. The comments submitted will be included in the request for the Office of Management and Budget’s approval.

The House Administration Committee scheduled a Nov. 11 hearing to investigate the ways in which political action committees (PACs) are using soft money after passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). Chair Bob Ney (R-OH) issued a news release saying, “In recent months, many of us in the Congress have watched with increasing concern as organizations have been formed in the wake of BCRA with the apparent intent of using soft money to influence federal elections -- something which the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act purported to ban.”

Another contentious issue has been added to the list of items that must be worked out before the CARE Act can go to conference committee. Last week 27 Republican House members signed a letter opposing a conservation tax incentive included in the Senate version of the bill.