Protecting Nonprofit Rights

New Posts

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...

read in full
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...

read in full
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...

read in full
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...

read in full
more news

Obama Announces Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Feb 6, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

President Obama signed an executive order to create the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Obama named Joshua DuBois, a minister who did religious outreach during the campaign, to head the office. He also named 25 diverse religious and secular leaders to a new advisory board.

read in full

FEC Approves Explanation and Justification for Bundling Rules

Feb 5, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) voted unanimously to approve the Explanation and Justification (E&J), implementing the new disclosure rule for lobbyist bundled contributions. In doing so, the FEC finally put into effect section 204 of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. The rules were approved by the FEC in Dec. 2008, but are only now in effect with the E&J.

read in full

Nonprofits Help Disenfranchised Michigan Voter Join Voter Rights Lawsuit

Feb 2, 2009 by Lateefah Williams*

The Advancement Project and the ACLU filed a motion, on behalf of Lisa Blehm, the wife of a U.S. serviceman, that will allow her to join a voter rights lawsuit. Pepper Hamilton LLP, the law firm representing the two nonprofits, filed a lawsuit in September 2008 on behalf of several nonprofits against several Michigan officials for illegal voter purges.

read in full

March 24 Argument Scheduled In Citizens United Case

Feb 2, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The Supreme Court has scheduled a March 24 oral argument for a case challenging campaign finance rules requiring disclosure of those paying for electioneering communications. The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) focuses around Hillary: The Movie a movie produced by Citizens United. The film is highly critical of then presidential nominee, former Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

read in full

FEC Delays Bundling Explanation and Justification

Feb 2, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has posted a transcript of its Jan. 14, 2009 public hearing on agency procedures and policies. The public comment period has been reopened until Feb. 18.

read in full

Obama Withdraws Family Planning Policy, Restores Some Nonprofit Speech Rights

On Jan. 23, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum withdrawing the Mexico City Policy. The Mexico City Policy prohibited organizations funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from using private, non-USAID funds to engage in activities including "providing advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available." Foreign nonprofits, referred to as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), were already barred from using U.S. funds to pay for abortions as a method of family planning. However, the Mexico City Policy went further and ultimately restricted the free speech rights of government grantees.

read in full

Lobbying and Ethics Reform Takes Center Stage at the White House

On Jan. 21, President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel. The order details new restrictions for political appointees that work in the Obama administration. It limits the role lobbyists can play in the executive branch and attempts to reduce the influence of powerful special interests by addressing the revolving door — when government officials move to and from private sector jobs.

read in full

Amicus Briefs Filed in Citizens United Case

Jan 23, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

Citizens United, now represented by former Solicitor General Ted Olson, has filed a brief with the Supreme Court that harshly confronts the electioneering communications rules. Citizens United went to court challenging these federal rules as applied to its film entitled Hillary: The Movie and its ads promoting the film. The law prohibits corporations and nonprofits from airing broadcast ads which refer to a federal candidate 30 days before a primary election; Citizens United is a 501(c)(4).

read in full

Activist Turned Informant Leads to Two Arrested

An activist turned informant is responsible for leading the FBI to arrest two Texas men during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul last September. Activists in Austin however contend that the informant manipulated the two men who are each facing one count of possession of firearms not registered to them.

read in full

Obama Strengthens Revolving Door Restrictions

Jan 22, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

On his first day, President Obama announced new limits on lobbyists. The Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel details that every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after Jan. 20, 2009, must sign the pledge described in the executive order.

read in full

Pages

Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

read in full

A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

read in full

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

Large chemical companies a...

read in full

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...

read in full
more resources
  • ©2025 Project On Government Oversight
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.