As part of its effort to streamline the federal grants process, the Office of Management and Budget has published updated versions of its grants circulars that make definitions of key terms consistent for all types of grantees. The new Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations will centralize all policy guidance and rules for grants and cooperative agreements.

Two of the six Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) six Commissioners have proposed a scaled-down version of the controversial proposed rule extending federal campaign finance rules to independent organizations. The proposal, drafted by Commissioners Michael Toner (R) and Scott Thomas (D), excludes organizations exempt under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and some Section 527 groups from regulation. However, it incorporates thresholds that are vague and leave exempted organizations open to similar regulatory restrictions in the future.

Open Debates, a coalition of reform groups, filed a complaint at the IRS last week asking that it revoke the tax-exempt status of the 501(c)(3) organization in charge of general election presidential debates.

After two days of public hearings with testimony from thirty witnesses and over 200,000 public comments received, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was no closer to resolving the complicated issue of re-defining the reach of its regulation than it was when it published its proposed rule in March. The FEC is scheduled to make a final decision on the proposed rules in mid-May; however, some Commissioners have publicly commented that they may take additional time to consider the volume of comments they received before taking any further action.