On Sept. 29, 2006 the Treasury Department released its third version of Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines, along with a response to public comments made on the second version, which was released in Dec. 2005. The Treasury press release refers to dialog with the nonprofit sector, but does not note that nonprofits have called for withdrawal of the guidelines as ineffective and ill-advised. OMB Watch will have a summary and analysis of the revisions posted on Oct. 2. Here are links to the new Treasury documents:

• Revised Guidelines

A lawsuit by the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCLM), challenging the electioneering communications provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was dismissed yesterday. CCLM argued that the provisions are unconstitutional; pertaining to an ad they wanted to air last spring, titled the "Crossroads." The ad identified Senator Snowe, a candidate in the June 13 primary. The court rejected the challenge because the ad campaign was on legislation that had already been voted on. Read the BNA Money & Politics (subscription required) story.

Speaking at the Council on Foundations’ (COF) International Committee on Oct. 25, 2006 Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Patrick O’Brien said the third version of Treasury's Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines would likely come out the next day. To date they have not been released. In May a Treasury spokesperson also indicated that changes would be coming soon, and gave a summary of likely changes.

Letter from Gary Bass: OMB Watch Launches FedSpending.org to Shed Light on Government Spending Budget Failures: Cutting to the Core Another Estate Tax Vote Unlikely During This Congress