No End in Sight for Sunstein Nomination

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) is not lifting his hold on the nomination of Cass Sunstein – President Obama’s pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Per the senator’s request, Sunstein met face to face with Chambliss yesterday to discuss the reasons for the hold.

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Congress Looks to Boost CPSC Funding above Obama Request

Both the House and the Senate are working to increase the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission – the beleaguered federal regulator of everything from toys to toasters.

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EPA Calls for Transparency as "First Step" to Improving Water Quality

In a July 2 memo to top staff, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, called for greater transparency of water quality enforcement and compliance information. Jackson acknowledged that U.S. waters do not meet public health and environmental goals, and she listed enhancing transparency as the first of several steps toward improving compliance and water quality.

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New Food Safety Agenda Emphasizes Prevention and Protection

The Obama administration unveiled a broad food safety agenda July 7, pledging to recraft a national food safety system that focuses on preventing, rather than reacting to, foodborne illness outbreaks. The agenda includes a raft of new policies and longer-term proposals that aim to empower officials and strengthen food safety regulation.



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FDA’s New Salmonella Standard and a Focus on Prevention

Today, the Food and Drug Administration published a final rule that will reduce the risk of salmonella contamination posed by shell eggs. The agency estimates the new regulation will prevent 79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths every year.

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Obama Administration Pushing Broad Food Safety Agenda

The Obama administration has announced major steps aimed at improving the safety of the nation’s food supply. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Vice President Joe Biden announced the agenda at press conference this afternoon.

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OMB Watch Comments on E-Rulemaking

As OMB Watch wrote in the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter The Watcher, the Obama administration is asking the public for ideas on reforming e-rulemaking – government’s system for displaying regulatory information and receiving public comments on proposed rules.

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OMB Watch Calls for E-Rulemaking Reforms

On July 2, 2009, OMB Watch made the following comments as a contribution to the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative. The comments were posted here: http://mixedink.com/OpenGov/ERulemaking.

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HHS Reinstates Medicaid Benefits Removed under Bush

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rolled back three Bush administration regulations designed to limit Medicaid services.

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Climate Bill Would Prohibit Clean Air Act Regulation

The historic Waxman-Markey climate change bill passed by the House last Friday includes a provision that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

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