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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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Dems File Long Awaited Lobby Reform Bills, Grassroots Disclosure Not Included

May 16, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Late Tuesday night, the Democratic leadership in the House filed two lobby reform bills. H.R. 2316, The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, is the main reform vehicle. It does not include grassroots lobbying reform, but does address the revolving door by expanding the "cooling off" period before ex-members of Congress can lobby; require electronic disclosure and public access on a searchable website; and address other ethics issues.

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House Lobby Reform Bill Expected to Move Soon

The leadership in the House has been working on its legislation to reform lobbying disclosure and ethics practices and is expected to unveil the plan today, May 15, or tomorrow, May 16, with a mark-up of the bill in the Judiciary Committee expected May 17. Despite repeated statements that a bill will be filed soon, controversy over grassroots lobbying disclosure, limits on bundling of campaign contributions by registered lobbyists and expansion of the cooling off period before ex-members of Congress can lobby have stalled progress. Rumors abound that the Democratic leadership bill will address the revolving door issue by doubling the cooling off period to two years. But the other two issues — grassroots lobbying disclosure and bundling of campaign contributions — are not likely to be addressed, although the leadership seems willing to have them offered as amendments or separate bills.

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Head Start Reauthorization Passes House without Faith-based Discrimination Language

On May 2, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429) passed the House without a provision that would have allowed grantees to discriminate on the basis of religion when hiring for positions funded by Head Start. The 365-48 vote followed the defeat of an amendment sponsored by Rep. Howard McKeon (R-CA) that would have permitted the religion-based hiring decisions. The long battle over Head Start reauthorization will now move forward as the Senate considers Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) Head Start for School Readiness Act (S.556), which does not include a religious preference measure. In addition, neither bill contains controversial limitations on use of private funds for voter registration by Head Start agencies.

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Aggressive Ads by 501(c)(4) Organizations

May 11, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

A story from msnbc begins; "501(c)(4) — it's the most potent little algorithm in politics right now." The article highlights VoteVets.org and other 501(c)(4) groups and their advertising methods. As discussed before, the role of 501(c)(4) organizations in elections will be talked about even more leading up to the 2008 election. VoteVets.org have been placing heavy pressure in districts where Republicans are up for re-election next year. As that time nears, it will be interesting to observe what is perceived as an increased reliance on 501(c)(4), welfare organizations as a campaign tool.

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Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure Discussion Continue: Until Maybe Next Week?

May 10, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

An article in BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports unsurprisingly that the House Judiciary Committee has put off the tentative plan to consider lobbying and ethics reform on May 11, stressing once again the struggle to reach an agreement in constructing language for the bill. Democratic leaders are reportedly continuing to work on the details of a bill. The article also extensively quotes a letter that OMB Watch sent to House offices urging their support of grassroots lobbying disclosure.

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Still Struggling With Lobbying Reform

May 8, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

BNA Money and Politics ($$) envisions an intense conflict over lobby reform, warning that a "battle is heating up in the House over disclosure requirements for paid grass-roots lobbying, with opponents criticizing a new proposal (H.R. 2093)." The article describes the outpouring of opposition to the bill (H.R. 2093), which would only require disclosure by grassroots lobbying firms that that receive more than $100,000 a quarter. The bill was introduced so that it could be offered as an amendment if such language is not included in the overall lobbying and ethics bill.

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Another Week's Wait on Reform in House

May 4, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Monday's news lent hope that House leaders planned to introduce their own version of the Senate's Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 this week and move it quickly to the floor sometime during the first two weeks in May. By Friday, that timetable was kicked aside: Suggesting that they are still wrestling with contentious issues in major lobbying and ethics reform legislation, House Democratic leaders have put off plans to unveil a new bill and bring it to the House floor the week of May 7.

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Head Start Reauthorization Passes Without Stripping Civil Rights Protections

May 4, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

With a vote of 365-48, the House passed the Head Start reauthorization bill, and importantly without a religious hiring preference provision that would have allowed providers to hire employees based on religion. As expected, Republicans offered a motion to recommit with instructions to include the faith-based provision. According to CQ ($$), "Republicans defended the hiring amendment as "principled," calling it both a civil rights and civil liberties issue. The Democrats had another word for it: discrimination." Fortunately the motion to recommit failed with a vote of 195-222.

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FEC Enforcement Drive

May 4, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Hill reports that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) will most likely rake in more money from violators than in years past; "the FEC in 2007 will exceed last year's total of $6.2 million, which in turn was more than double any previous year's collection." All have noticed more enforcement at the FEC with bringing in larger settlements. This vigorous trend started with enforcing fines on 527s that played a major role in the 2004 election. Some say that these large fines have caused some 527s to change their tax status to a 501(c)(4), avoiding the FEC and disclosing of donors.

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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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Resources & Research

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Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

Large chemical companies a...

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Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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