Efforts to free the Food and Drug Administration from the pharmaceutical industry's excessive influence seesawed between success and failure in the same week, as the House voted to ban drug company scientists from FDA advisory committees while an agency whistleblower revealed that a new drug safety board has been tilted in favor of the drug companies. New Drug Safety Board Biased Towards Industry

The House Administration Committee approved an amended version of the 527 Fairness Act (H.R. 1316) on June 8 in a straight party line vote. The bill would repeal some parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) by increasing limits on individual and PAC contributions and removing restrictions on electioneering communications by some nonprofits. It would not put limits on contributions to independent 527 groups, but would require them to report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as well as the IRS. Internet communications would also be exempt from regulation.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced another bipartisan Freedom of Information bill last week that would require any new bills that exempt information from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to say so within the text. This bill joins several bills aimed at strengthening FOIA, while several others would chip away at the act.

A former oil industry lobbyist changed language in government climate change reports to undermine the science on climate change and present it as less problematic, according to a government whistleblower, in what is becoming a persistent problem of politics trumping science. Days after news outlets broke the story, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation into the whistleblower's claims.