This afternoon, the House defeated, 205-207, an amendment by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) to require oil companies with royalty-free offshore leases to renegotiate those deals before winning new leases in certain areas. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), the House Ways and Means ranking Democrat, had added language to the amandment, CQ ($) reports "to allow a 2007 “patch” for the alternative minimum tax that would have cost $48 billion."

On November 21, EPA issued a final rule that absolves pesticide users from obtaining a permit to apply pesticides over or near bodies of water. Today, the Detroit Free Press ran a Gannett News Service story about the ruling, which has been woefully undercovered in the media. The story also has a nice sidebar encapsulating some of the Bush administration's most objectionable deregulation decisions over the past six years; not to mention a pithy quote from OMB Watch Executive Director Gary Bass:

Attorneys Marcus S. Owens and Natalie E. Fay wrote an article titled, "Penalizing Instigators of Political Campaign Intervention." The authors suggest that in light of increased attention on IRS audits of tax-exempt groups who have engaged in campaign intervention, the IRS should redirect enforcement measures to the candidates who in fact encourage the misuse, particularly of churches. Owens and Fay describe how candidates entice a church's involvement through various examples, such as candidates who have openly included churches in their campaign strategy, leaving the churches vulnerable.

This New York Times article reports that Democratic leaders want to conduct increased oversight of counterterrorism programs, including wiretapping and data-mining programs. Senator Leahy made this opinion clear during a hearing yesterday questioning Robert S. Mueller III, director of the FBI. These investigatory plans are very encouraging.