At its May 13 meeting the Federal Election Commission (FEC) approved a General Counsel recommendation to defer action on its political committee rulemaking for 90 days. The General Counsel said the FEC needed time to give the complex issues in the case more thorough consideration, saying "It is just as important not to drop the issue as to get it right." The move makes it unlikely any new rules will take effect this year. In response the House Administration Committee has scheduled a hearing for May 20.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) appears unwilling to allow a sober and unhurried review of their revised proposal for government-wide peer review requirements. The revised proposal was published in the Federal Register April 28 with only a 30-day public comment period that is scheduled to end May 28. OMB rejected a request from various public interest groups for a 60-day extension to the public review period.

With the budget resolution appearing to be stalled in the Congress, attention may soon turn to changing the overall budget process.

Only a single week remains to submit comments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the highly controversial Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) rule. DHS published an interim final rule in the Federal Register Feb. 20 with a 90-day public comment period that ends May 20. Even though the agency continues to accept comments on the CII program, the rule went into effect upon publication. DHS has reported to Congress that it has already received several submissions for the CII program.