Publications

Will There Be a Budget Resolution?

"Paygo" rules, once a little-known budget technicality, are now proving to be the main impediment in reaching a budget resolution for FY 2005, which begins on October 1, 2004.

read in full

UPDATE: Overtime Cutback Imminent

The Bush administration's reduction of overtime rights may be finalized as soon as this Tuesday, sources on the Hill report. The new regulations governing overtime pay could HREF="http://www.ibew.org/stories/03daily/0304/030402_overtime.htm"> eliminate overtime rights for many workers. Although the Department of Labor only recently

read in full

Administration Calls Cost-Benefit Analysis 'Unreliable'

The Bush administration altered a study of the economics of saving a threatened species by deleting 55 pages on the benefits of saving the species and leaving only discussion about the costs to industry. Although the administration explains the deletion as a concession to the inadequacy of economic discourse in making policy decisions for threatened and endangered species, the cost-benefit analysis will still be used to reduce the amount of threatened habitat to be protected.

read in full

Open Debates Calls for the Revocation of the Commission on Presidential Debates? Tax-Exempt Status

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.

read in full

FEC Holds Hearings on Proposed Rule After Receiving Record Number of Comments

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.

read in full

OMB's Peer Review Proposal Improved But Still Flawed

After receiving strong opposition for its peer review proposal from scientists, environmentalists, and public interest groups, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a massively revised version of the guidance and is seeking public comment on the new version. While many of the changes are significant improvements over OMB's initial policy, the new proposal fails to address some of the most fundamental complaints.

read in full

9/11 Tops Ten Most Wanted Documents Report by New Anti-Secrecy Coalition

The federal government too often uses terrorism and national security as an excuse to keep unnecessary secrets. There is a great need for more information from government to make our families and communities safer, and this need has been clearly articulated in the results of a survey released last week by OpenTheGovernment.org, a new coalition aimed at fighting secrecy and strengthening democracy.

read in full

White House Changes Experts' Report on Health Effects of Mercury

The White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made changes to a report from the National Academy of Sciences on the toxicology of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that is especially dangerous to pregnant women and young children. According to documents obtained by the New York Times, White House staff made editorial interventions in the report, which was commissioned by Congress to establish the science on the risks associated with mercury. The White House's alterations downplayed the risks of mercury, replaced specific enumerations of mercury-related harms with bland, general

read in full

Moving Towards A Long-Term Proactive Tax and Budget Initiative

As a community, nonprofit service providers, issue advocates, and policy wonks alike spend most of their time fighting against "bad" policies like program cuts or tax giveaways to the wealthy. Rather than remaining on the defensive, the sector should begin laying the groundwork for a positive vision of what it considers to be sound tax and budget policy.

read in full

Pages

  • ©2025 Project On Government Oversight
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.