Dear Commissioner Everson

Aug 3, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has written a letter IRS Commissioner Everson to perform a cost-benefit analysis of estate tax auditors. Following up on a story in The New York Times, Dodd is concerned that plans to cut estate tax auditors - a group that is considered the most productive at the IRS in terms of revenue collected per hour of work - was politically motivated.

read in full

Industry-Backed Radical Named as White House Reg Czar

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

OMB Watch and other public interest groups have been following rumprs for the last several months that the White House intended to nominate industry-funded extremist Susan Dudley, currently housed at anti-regulatory think tank the Mercatus Center, to become the White House reg czar. The White House just made it official. Click here for a statement from OMB Watch, and here for commentary from Public Citizen. Meanwhile, here is PR Watch's take, under the headline Free-Market Fox Nominated to Henhouse Post:

read in full

Frist on Pension Bill

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Today on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called the House-passed pension reform bill (H.R. 4) “must-pass” legislation, claiming the Senate will clear the bill by the end of this week. Senator Frist said, “It's just this simple: The pensions bill is must-pass. Must-pass!” He added, “The Senate must clear the pensions bill, clean, so the President can sign it this month. We will act, and pensions will get done, without amendment.” For more, see www.501cstrategies.com.

read in full

Frist Says Senate GSE Bill Unlikely to Get Floor Time

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From Congress Daily:

read in full

Committee Discussion Urges Movement on Senate GSE Bill

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

A morning Senate Banking committee meeting over a credit rating bill, the talk began with moving along S. 190, Sen. Shelby's bill to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [Sen. Hagel] said the Senate should act on Shelby’s bill (S 190) to overhaul regulation of Fannie and Freddie. That measure was approved by the panel along party lines last summer and has been stalled since. Panel members seemed more optimistic Wednesday that some kind of a compromise could be reached on that bill in time for Senate passage in September.

read in full

Bush, Blacks, and the Estate Tax

Aug 2, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Fantastic op-ed article from William Spriggs, chairman of the economics department at Howard University and former executive director at the National Urban League, on the chutzpah President Bush displayed urging help in repealing the estate tax in front of the NAACP. Spriggs finds Bush's tactics insulting, and pulls no punches in suggesting so:

read in full

Decision By Fannie, Freddie, May Spur Legislation

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

CQ is reporting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's plans to limit its investment portfolio could mean that S. 190, a bill overhauling regulation of that company and Fannie Mae this year. Unlikely with the Senate's packed schedule, nonprofit advocates can breathe a little easier for the moment - the anti-advocacy language contained in the House passed bill (see www.ombwatch.org/gseresourcecenter) is not currently within the Senate version.

read in full

Charities React to the Charitable Reforms/Incentives

Aug 2, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From BNA: The big fear had been that all the incentives in H.R. 4 might disappear and there would only be reforms left, United Way Public Policy Director Patrick Lester told BNA July 31. "We were in danger of seeing most of these charitable provisions be used to offset tax cuts for the business community, rather than coming back to charities in any way." Because the reforms raise revenue, they could have been used for other purposes, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) insisted on pumping any gains back into the charitable incentives.

read in full

The Mystery Deepens

Aug 2, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Adam wondered last week why Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is so fanatical about passing an estate tax cut. I have to admit: I, too, am intrigued as to why after a couple of failed attempts to get that dastardly thing passed Frist keeps banging his head against the wall. This AP story, however, only intensifies the mystery. Why slash the estate tax when you can get around it by "donating" it to yourself? Frist and his wife are the sole trustees in charge of a family foundation bearing the senator's name, according to Internal Revenue Service forms.

read in full

White House Appoints Industry-Backed Extremist as Regulatory Czar

Statement of J. Robert Shull, Director of Regulatory Policy
Corporate special interests are about to have the best friend they could have wished for installed in the White House office that oversees regulatory policy. The White House announced today its intention to nominate Susan Dudley, an anti-regulatory extremist from the industry-funded Mercatus Center, to an obscure but powerful office, where she would have the power to gut the federal government's very ability to protect the public.

read in full

Pages

  • ©2015 Center for Effective Government
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.