In the last Charity and Security Network Newsletter, we noted that the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Bush administration, Stuart Levey, was retained by Treasury officials. While this raises concerns about the potential for developing sensible counter terrorism finance policies, it might not be a long lasting situation.

The Health and Human Services Department will revise a controversial regulation finalized under the Bush administration. The rule, which took effect Jan. 20, gives health care providers the right to refuse to provide women with access to or information about reproductive health services, if the provider objects on moral or religious grounds. It is sometimes called the provider conscience rule.

The AFL-CIO and Change to Win have filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) charging that two groups, the Center for Union Facts and the Marcus Foundation, violated their tax exempt status by engaging in prohibited partisan political activity during the 2008 election.

An editorial in RollCall ($$) considers President Obama's executive order to be a "war on lobbyists" that is "too broad and, at the same time, too narrow." The rules and the consequences of Obama's new ethics rules continue to be a topic of deliberation. The editorial criticizes "that it paints all lobbyists with the broad brush of corruption, deception and dishonesty."