Chemical Insecurity

Last night, the Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Committee struck a deal to attach chemical security language to the FY 2007 DHS spending bill. The language, agreed upon by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) last week, is a retreat from stronger, bipartisan bills pending in both houses and, according to environmental groups, "turns a blind eye to removing thousands of people from harm's way with off-the-shelf technologies." News of the agreement quickly met with strong criticism from members of Congress and public interest groups.

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Terrorism Task Force Raids Muslim Charity, Making Ramadan Giving Problematic

On Sept.18, federal agents raided the office of a Michigan-based Muslim charity. Agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) seized files, cabinets, computers, and copied documents from the headquarters of Life for Relief and Development, a humanitarian relief organization. The group, founded in 1992, has been active in sending aid to Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Dubai, Syria, Sierra Leone, and Israel and is one of the largest American Muslim aid groups.

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Pending EPA Library Closures Spark Protest and Controversy

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to move forward with plans to shut down agency libraries despite protests from EPA scientists and enforcement staff. According to a leaked EPA FY 2007 Library Plan, regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City as well as its Headquarters library in Washington, will be closed by Sept. 30 and as many as 80,000 documents not electronically available will be boxed for digitizing.

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Secretive Biodefense Legislation Moves Forward

The House and Senate are nearing a vote on legislation to authorize a new federal agency, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency would oversee "advanced research and development" of countermeasures to bioterrorism threats, epidemics, and pandemics, and would have broad authority to exempt information from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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GAO Fails to Adequately Assess the Data Quality Act

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report on how well major federal agencies are implementing and overseeing compliance with the Data Quality Act (DQA). The report is an excellent overview of DQA's use, but it fails to make recommendations necessary to improving the management of DQA impacts on the federal government, in particular to minimizing its potential abuse.

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Found To Have Not Supported Terrorism, Scholar Still Denied Visa

Sep 26, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

U.S. clears Tariq Ramadan of being a supporter of terrorism, but maintains that he will not be granted a visa. Ramadan is a highly regarded, leading Muslim scholar and currently a fellow at the University of Oxford. In January 2004, he was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame and was granted a specialized nonimmigrant visa, but was then informed by the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland that his visa had been revoked. This exemplifies a harsh consequence for giving to a charity with alleged connections to Hamas, before Hamas was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

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Big Deficits Hurt Economic Competitiveness

Sep 26, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The U.S. has lost its spot atop a ranking of the world's most "competitive" economies. Why? In part, our deficit is too high. The US trade deficit is expected to top last year's record level of $717bn (£378bn; 565bn euros) in 2006, while the budget shortfall, although expected to be significantly lower than last year, is still forecast to be close to $300bn. "US competitiveness is threatened by large macroeconomic imbalances, particularly rising levels of public indebtedness associated with repeated fiscal deficits," the report said.

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S. 2590 Now Law

Sep 26, 2006 by Matthew Madia

President Bush has signed S. 2590 into law (see the White House press release here). Congrats to everyone who helped push this bill through!

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Frist Promises to Deliver Security-Related Approps.

Sep 26, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Sen. Frist has promised to finish work on the Homeland Security and Defense appropriations bills before Congress goes on recess. Will he deliver? Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) promised lawmakers an aggressive work week Sept. 25, saying he is planning to use the next six days to finish critical appropriations bills, border security legislation, and measures dealing with President Bush's electronic surveillance program and military tribunals.....

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Tax Expenditure Statement

Sep 26, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Today, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is having a hearing on the disclosure of tax expenditures. Not many people know it, but tax expenditures are a huge part of the federal budget. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the federal government spent $947 billion in tax expenditures just this year. And much of that enormous sum goes to programs that are ineffective, ineffecient, and highly regressive, according to the Congressional Research Service.

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