Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Senators 'Hold' EPA Nominee to Protest Cuts to Pollution Reporting

New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D) and Robert Menendez (D) have placed a hold on a Bush administration nominee to protest a set of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposals to dismantle the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Last year, EPA proposed significant cuts to the TRI program, our country's most complete inventory of toxic pollution, that would according to Lautenberg, "deny thousands of communities - including 160 in New Jersey - full information about the release of hazardous toxic emissions in their neighborhoods."

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Employees Weigh in to Save EPA Libraries

Presidents of 17 Local Unions representing more than 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees wrote to Senate appropriators on June 29 to protest deep cuts to EPA funding that would close the agency's libraries. The letter urges Congress to reinstate full funding to EPA libraries and explains how the cuts will impede EPA's ability to respond to public health, enforcement and homeland security emergencies and restrict public access to vital health and safety information.

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Reports Show the Good and Bad in Agency Classification Procedures

Continuing its study of classification procedures, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports, one focusing on the Department of Defense (DOD) and the other on the Department of Energy (DOE). The reports offer a stark contrast, bemoaning DOD's "lack of oversight and inconsistent implementation" of classification policies, while praising DOE's "systematic training, comprehensive guidance, and rigorous oversight."

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FOIA's 40th Anniversary - Bigger Backlogs and Poor Planning

This July 4th marked the 40th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Open government advocates marked the occasion by releasing two reports that simultaneously underscored the importance of FOIA 40 years later and the need for improved agency procedures.

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Shays Looks to Limit State Secrets Privilege

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) has introduced a bill to prevent the administration from abusing its all-powerful state secrets privilege. Based on the 1953 Supreme Court ruling in Reynolds v. United States, the state secrets privilege allows the executive branch to declare certain materials or topics completely exempt from disclosure or review by any body.

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Senate Strengthens Whistleblower Protections After High Court Decision

The Senate acted quickly last week to fill a gap in whistleblower protection law in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling which may have weakened First Amendment protections for whistleblowers. The Senate passed the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S.494), sponsored by Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Susan Collins (R-ME), which would strengthen protections for federal government employees that expose government inadequacies.

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Government Secretly Examining Financial Transactions

Yet another Bush administration secret program that gathers private information came to light last week. The New York Times on Jun. 23, much to the ire of the White House, broke the story of government monitoring of banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and financial institutions.

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