Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Reg policy articles this time: Congress Holds Hearings on Bush's Changes to Regulatory Process FDA Drug Approval Process under Scrutiny

TomPaine.com has an interesting opinion piece on a proposed regulation that would deem 97 foot long rigs safe for highway use. These rigs have four separate trucks behind the cab, and are longer than an NBA basketball court. What's really galling is that the law being implemented would violate the principles of federalism by overriding current state statutes: Under current federal regulations, states are allowed to impose an overall length limit of 75 feet on four-ways. Almost every state has imposed such limits… [T]his federal law is likely to be interpreted as actually prohibiting any state from protecting its residents by passing a law restricting four-ways to less than the 97-foot federal standard. As a native Pennsylvanian, I wonder how these trucks will be able to navigate the obstacle course that is the PA turnpike. I hope the Bush administration does not make me find out.

At a press conference last week, White House press secretary Tony Snow applies the administration's familiar "let's you and him fight" strategy (that's worked so well to paralyze the entitlement reform discussion) to AMT reform:

BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports today on the latest in the clash between the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the sponsors of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) have warned the FEC that what we might see before the 2008 elections are federal candidates relying on corporations, unions, or wealthy individuals to supply unlimited funding for advertising early in the 2008 race. Shays and Martin Meehan have filed a lawsuit objecting to these coordination rules.