From Earmark to Earful: the Iraq Study Group

Dec 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

This morning, we witnessed a remarkable moment in American history: a sitting President's policy castigated and condemned in person by members of a highly-respected bipartisan group -- including a former Supreme Court Justice, former Secretaries of State, and former Presidential Chiefs of Staff -- over military policy relating to one of the five or six major wars ever undertaken by this country. And to think, that group, the Iraq Study Group, was created by a tiny earmark inserted into a war supplemental bill by a rank-and-file Republican member of the House. As the New York Times put it:

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Watcher: December 5, 2006

Dec 6, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Lame Duck Session Holds Little Hope for Appropriations Bills Alternative Minimum Tax Likely to be Large Issue in 2007

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Reform Rumblings

Dec 5, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

Given that the soon to be Democratic majority will have 10 unapproved spending bills, incoming House Majority Leader Hoyer was questioned on how Democrats will handle the 100-hour legislative agenda. The National Journal (subscription required) reported that Hoyer commentated that the 100 hours of legislating will take place before the continuing resolution expires. "One change in the Democrats' agenda is that the rules changes and ethics reforms promised by Democratic leaders will not be part of the 100-hour slate . . .

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Rating for All International Travelers

Dec 5, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

Recent news reports have revealed that Americans that travel internationally are being rated under the Automated Targeting System which uses computer-generated scores to rate the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals.

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EPA Drops Plan to Change TRI Reporting Frequency, Major Flaws Remain

In light of the midterm elections and ongoing pressure from the current Republican controlled Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is changing its views on some plans for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the nation's premiere environmental right to know program. EPA has announced it will retain annual reporting of toxic pollution, dropping its proposal to shift reporting to every other year.

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Terrorism Information Sharing Initiative Faces Several Hurdles

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) submitted the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) Implementation Plan to Congress in November. Through changes in policy and technology, the plan articulates a multi-year vision for improving terrorism information sharing across the federal government and between foreign, federal, state and local governments, as well as key members of the private sector.

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Pelosi and Reid Promise Increased Congressional Transparency

The new Democratic leadership in Congress is urging transparency as a primary tool to reform the legislative process. According to statements from incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the leadership is planning several new rules and pieces of legislation on tracking earmarks, requiring time to read proposed legislation, and media access to conference committee activities - all with a central theme of increased congressional transparency.

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Supplemental Scrutiny

Dec 5, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The House Democratic caucus may have gotten our memo. Following a caucus meeting today, to-be-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that when President Bush sends up his "emergency" supplementary war funding request (expected arrival: next February; pricetag: as much as $160 billion):

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Alternative Minimum Tax Likely to be Large Issue in 2007

The continuing creep of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is threatening to impact tens of millions of Americans in 2007 - a fact that will push it to the forefront of tax policy issues. In 1995, 414,000 wealthy tax payers paid the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and in 2001, that number grew to 1.3 million. Unless Congress acts, 23.4 million Americans are expected to be snagged by this "stealth tax" in 2007, which was originally intended to affect only 20,000 wealthy taxpayers.

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Lame Duck Session Holds Little Hope for Appropriations Bills

The congressional lame duck session resumed Dec. 5 as the 109th Congress returned to work on a set of long-deferred tax and budget items. However, Congress will likely postpone action on the bulk of these issues until the next session and quickly pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will last until early 2007. The Budget

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