Obama's Regulatory Enforcement Shows That Government Can Play a Positive Role

By Matthew Madia, OMB Watch
Simultaneously published Dec. 20, 2010 in the Huffington Post
In its first two years, the Obama administration stepped up the enforcement of rules meant to protect the environment, workers, and consumers, according to a new OMB Watch report. This activity is a welcome development after years of regulatory negligence that likely played a part in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and the most fatal coal mine disaster in 40 years.

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OMB Watch Sees White House Science Memo as a Step Forward

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2010—The White House today took another step toward securing the independence of federal scientists and ensuring the integrity of scientific information used in government decision making. President Obama's top science advisor, John Holdren, issued a memo to executive branch agencies outlining the administration's position on key scientific integrity issues and instructing agencies to implement reforms.

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OMB Watch Criticizes House Vote on Estate Tax Amendment

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2010—OMB Watch today criticized the House's Dec. 16 failure to adopt Rep. Earl Pomeroy's (D-ND) estate tax amendment to the Bush tax cut compromise reached by President Obama and congressional Republicans. The vote against the Pomeroy amendment indicates that the nation's fiscal priorities have been cast aside in favor of the estate planning needs of the wealthiest 0.3 percent of Americans.

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Report Shows Obama Administration Stepping Up Enforcement of Labor, Consumer Protection, Environmental Laws

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2010—In a new report released today, OMB Watch examines the regulatory enforcement actions of the Obama administration at its midterm point. The report, The Obama Approach to Public Protection: Enforcement, illustrates that executive branch agencies under Obama have stepped up enforcement of a number of important labor, consumer protection, and environmental laws and regulations. The report is the second in a series of three publications on the Obama administration's approach to public protections and the federal regulatory process.

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Obama Tax Cut Compromise Capitulates on Estate Tax

By Gary D. Bass, OMB Watch
Simultaneously published Dec. 7, 2010 in the Huffington Post
President Obama's tax cut deal with congressional Republicans, if enacted by Congress, will achieve what President George W. Bush could not get done: create a path to effectively kill the estate tax.

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OMB Watch Pans Deficit Commission Plan

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2010—OMB Watch today panned the plan proposed by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to reshape the nation’s fiscal priorities. While the plan contains some praiseworthy provisions targeted at the tax code and the federal budget process, overall, it represents an unfortunate step backward in meeting the needs of the nation’s working families.

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OMB Watch Criticizes U.S. Chamber of Commerce over Irresponsible Attack on Public Protections

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2010—OMB Watch today criticized the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for an irresponsible attack on government regulation, a key mechanism for providing public safeguards. The rebuke was in response to news that the Chamber will target environmental and worker protections and health care and financial reform regulations in the coming months.

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OMB Watch Lauds President Obama’s Executive Order on Controlled Unclassified Information

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2010—Today, the White House released a new executive order on controlled unclassified information (CUI) that deserves genuine praise as a simple but strong path forward in the effort to rein in the chaotic alphabet soup of unclassified information categories.

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OMB Watch Releases In-Depth Analysis of House Republicans' "Pledge to America"

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2010—OMB Watch today released an in-depth analysis of "A Pledge to America," the House Republicans' newest policy plan. The Pledge was announced on Sept. 23. Overall, the analysis finds that the Pledge paints with a broad policy brush. Despite the lack of detail, OMB Watch was able to examine the Pledge in three main areas: regulatory policy; tax and budget policy; and transparency and government accountability.

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GOP 'Pledge' Is Simply a Way of Shutting Down a Large Part of Government

By Gary D. Bass, OMB Watch
Simultaneously published Sept. 23, 2010 in the Huffington Post
As Yogi Berra's redundant saying goes, "It's déjà vu all over again." Back in 1994, congressional Republicans unveiled what they called the "Contract with America." The Contract was chock-full of policy proposals intended to shrink the size of government, kneecap agencies' ability to protect the public, and decrease the burden on taxpayers, especially the rich.

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