OMB Watch told Congress today that the Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) draws biased conclusions about federal program efficacy and should thus continue to be largely ignored by Congress. Adam Hughes, OMB Watch's director of federal fiscal policy, testified on PART before a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee, during a hearing held by Committee Chair Tom Coburn (R-OK) to investigate why PART is not more widely used by Congress.

Reports coming from GOP leadership about the timing of sunset commission legislation are conflicting, with one report suggesting that a bill could be considered in the House as early as next week, but agree all the same that some vehicle will move this summer. In the past few days, rumors have circulated that House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) was leading efforts to combine differing sunset commission bills, with the Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) bill (H.R. 2470) the centerpiece bill to be supplemented by language from the other leading bills.

For the third consecutive year, the Office of the Vice President has refused to disclose information on its security classification practices, according to a report released last month. The refusal contradicts a presidential order to disclose data on classification and declassification, issued by President Clinton and amended by President Bush in 2003.