Publications

More of the Same: Import Safety Panel Leaves Business in Charge

The Bush administration's cabinet-level Interagency Working Group on Import Safety released its final report Nov. 6 on ways to improve the safety of food and consumer products imported into the U.S. The report calls for limited increases in some federal agencies' responsibilities but does little to change the current voluntary regulatory scheme that governs some $2 trillion worth of products, 800,000 importers and more than 300 ports-of-entry.

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Bush Fuel Economy Measure Rejected by Court

A U.S. court of appeals has overturned a recent National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) rule that revised a national standard for fuel economy. Environmentalists hailed the ruling as a victory and framed it as condemnation of the Bush administration's record on fuel economy and global warming.

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States Average a D-Minus on Disclosure

A new report by Good Jobs First finds that states have not kept up with technology in creating certain disclosure systems, and in some cases actively resist advances. The State of State Disclosure analyzed state websites for publicly available data on economic development subsidies, state procurement contracts and lobbying activities. Connecticut scored the highest, with an average of 84 percent, but more than half of the states received failing grades, placing the average score at 60 percent, a D-minus.

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Secrecy for Farm Animals

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill in late October that would create a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption for records in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Open government advocates strongly oppose the exemption and see it as a violation of the public's right to access information regarding food safety.

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Toxic Chemicals R Us

All 35 participants tested positive for three toxic chemical groups in a study conducted by the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the Body Burden Working Group. The report on the study, Is It In Us?: Chemical Contamination in our Bodies, released Nov. 8, is the first multi-state, multi-organizational effort to evaluate the presence of this particular combination of chemicals in Americans.

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Congress Reforming Government Surveillance Authority

Legislation to reform expansive surveillance authority moved forward in both the House and the Senate recently. The House passed the RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773), which would reform the Protect America Act (PAA), passed in haste before Congress's August recess. The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (S. 2248) without telecom immunity provisions that were included in the Senate Intelligence Committee bill, setting up a confusing situation that makes it unclear which version will be sent to the Senate floor for consideration.

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OMB and EU Discuss Regulation and International Trade

Nov 15, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The European Commission and the White House Office of Management and Budget have released a joint draft report titled, "Review of the application of EU and US regulatory impact assessment guidelines on the analysis of impacts on international trade and investment." The report describes the system by which the European Union (EU) and the U.S. examine proposed regulations for their potential impacts on foreign parties and/or international trade.

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Watcher: November 6th, 2007

Nov 7, 2007 by Matt Lewis

AMT: Mother of All Tax Bills and Progeny On Oct. 25, after a gestation period of nearly nine months, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) finally unveiled the Tax Reduction and Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 3970), his self-described "mother of all tax bills." The Rangel bill is a $930 billion, multi-faceted tax reform package that seeks to abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) on a revenue-neutral basis. The measure redistributes the tax burden away from lower- and middle-class taxpayers and toward the wealthy beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Skeptical of Telecom Immunity

As the Senate considers legislation to address the president's surveillance powers, the Senate Judiciary Committee registered concern regarding the recent compromise brokered in the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant the telecommunications industry immunity for alleged illegal assistance with the National Security Agency's (NSA) warrantless surveillance of American citizens. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), respectively, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that immunity did not appear to be necessary, and that those alleging harm should have their day in court.

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National Research Council Recommends Greater Openness

The National Research Council of the National Academies issued a report in October calling for policies to improve government openness with regard to scientific information. The report stressed that certain government policies developed after 9/11 overly restrict access to scientific information and thereby harm scientific progress and national security.

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