The deadline by which the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform needed to report their recommendations to Treasury Secretary John Snow was pushed back two months by order of President Bush last week. On June 16, Bush signed an amendment to the executive order establishing the parameters of the panel allowing the report to be sent to Treasury by September 30, a full two months after the original July 31 deadline. It is unknown whether this change was due to political calculations by the president and his advisors or if the panel was behind schedule and simply needed more time.

On June 23, Rep. Robert Ney (R-OH), chair of the House Administration Committee, sent a letter to Reps. Martin Meehan (D-MA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) informing them he intends to schedule their proposed legislation, H.R. 513, the 527 Reform Act, for committee consideration. Ney also said that, although he supports a competing 527 bill, he will vote to send the Shays-Meehan proposal to the floor.

Even as the cost of serious workplace injury continues to soar, new research concludes that those costs are significantly underestimated. A recent report by insurance company Liberty Mutual revealed that the cost of serious workplace injuries has skyrocketed in recent years. After adjusting for inflation in both health care costs and wages, Liberty Mutual calculated that the cost of serious workplace injuries increased by 12.1 percent between 1998 and 2002, with over half of that increase occurring in 2002.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) revealed a proposal for Social Security overhaul last week that has received the attention of both the White House and the House Ways and Means Committee. According to DeMint, the proposal -- dubbed the initiative to Stop the Raid on Social Security Act (S. 274) -- would stop members of Congress from spending Social Security funds that exceed the amount currently needed to pay benefits on other priorities.