The so-called “Super Committee,” charged with creating a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan by Thanksgiving, seems to be stalling. If the committee cannot agree to a deal, or if Congress doesn't approve of the plan that the committee produces, the debt ceiling package that passed in August will trigger almost a trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts to both defense and non-defense spending. Congress as a whole appears to be waffling between voting for a deficit reduction plan that many constituents will find unpalatable or allowing the automatic cuts to proceed, which will also make voters unhappy. However, this problem presents a false choice because there is another option: Congress could vote to select "none of the above."
Though the Clean Air Act and rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reduced national air pollution levels, hundreds of communities around the country still struggle with dangerously poor air quality. Released on Nov. 7, 
Even though the Super Committee is stealing the limelight, this summer's debt ceiling deal didn't just create the deficit-cutting committee. It also forces both the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. 
Several recently published studies compare the policy and practice of transparency in the United States and other countries. Such studies provide useful measures of U.S. openness relative to real-world conditions, in addition to highlighting global best practices and alternative approaches. The U.S. ranked in the middle range in the studies, demonstrating how other countries have met the challenges of 21st-century transparency while the U.S. has lagged in some areas.
Nowhere is safety more important than in children's toys and products. A number of regulatory agencies share responsibility for ensuring that children are not exposed to harmful toxins or dangerous products, but legislative gaps and procedural hoops have delayed needed protections. A new report by Clean and Healthy New York concludes that while some crib mattress manufacturers have made products less toxic, a "significant portion of the crib mattresses in the U.S. market contain one or more chemicals of concern" and may still pose risks to babies.
Rhetorical and legislative attacks on the agencies that protect the public from health, safety, and environmental hazards occur almost daily, coming from corporate interests and their political allies on Capitol Hill. Now, some agency heads appear to be publicly fighting back by openly defending the work their agencies do to protect the American people.