National Event Will Explore Gov't Secrecy, Openness

March 13: "Are We Safer in the Dark?" presented by the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition
To kick off Sunshine Week, a panel of experts will address open government and secrecy - the problems we face, the impacts on communities, and what the public can do. Programs at venues throughout the country will then allow participants to continue the discussion, including issues relevant to local communities.

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Watcher: February 23, 2006

Feb 23, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Tough Negotiations Ahead for Tax Bill Frist Vows Estate Tax Vote This Spring More Dishonest War Budgeting From White House Lobby Reform Continues to Overlook Budget Process

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OMB Watch Files Petition for Electioneering Communication Rulemaking

On Feb. 16, OMB Watch joined numerous other groups, including the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Justice, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in filing a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), asking the FEC to exempt legitimate grassroots communications from "electioneering communication" prohibitions.

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Latest Watcher

Feb 22, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Reg policy articles this time: What Others Are Saying About PART White House Pushes for Sunsets, Reorganization Power

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Cost of Supplemental War Spending in Your State

Feb 22, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Last week the White House issued a request for an additional $72 billion in supplemental funding for war costs. To find out how this cost plays out in your specific state, check out the National Priorities Project website.

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Lobby Reform: Momentum in Senate; House, Nonprofits Weigh Impact

After making a lot of noise about reform, lawmakers finally move to wade through the mountain of lobby and ethics reform bills and begin marking up legislation.

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Dep't of Homeland Security Plans Broad Info Grab

According to reports, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is developing a program to collect and search a wide array of personal, public and classified information, similar to a program killed by Congress in 2002. The Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE) program would implement a massive data mining program to prevent terrorist attacks; the program, however, continues to lack the necessary oversight structure and procedures to protect privacy and safeguard civil liberties.

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What Others Are Saying About PART

OMB Watch is not alone in criticizing the White House's Program Assessment Rating Tool. See what others have had to say recently about this flawed measure. PART Punishes Programs for Following the Law Clay Johnson, OMB deputy director, when asked in a congressional hearing, "[I]s it possible for a program to get a poor rating simply because it does what's required by statute and not necessarily what OMB might like for that program to do?": Yes.

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One in Five Women Carries Too Much Mercury

On Feb. 8, the Environmental Quality Institute (EQI) at the University of North Carolina-Asheville released the largest ever biomonitoring study of mercury levels in the U.S. population. Based on hair samples from more than 6,600 women, researchers found that 20 percent of women of childbearing age exceed the EPA's recommended mercury limit.

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Sensitive But Unclassified Info: You Can't Have It. Why? Because They Say So.

The explosion in the use by federal agencies of Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) designations to withhold information since the 9/11 terrorist attacks has resulted in uneven policies across agencies and unnecessary restrictions on public access to information, according to a recent American Bar Association report. Such problems have manifested themselves in Connecticut, where state officials are trying to access, and make public, safety information pertaining to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, in order to determine and reduce any risk to the public posed by the plant.

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