Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have joined forces again to craft legislation that would increase the transparency of how the federal government spends taxpayers' money. The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077), introduced June 3, is a follow-up to the 2006 Transparency Act, which was also spearheaded by the two senators. Obama and Coburn, along with Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ), introduced the new legislation with the goals of making important new data easily accessible and enabling citizens to hold our government accountable for the fiscal stewardship of our shared resources.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invited the public to participate in a week of online dialogue to develop ideas to improve access to environmental information.

In response to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) request for input on its 2008-09 guidance priorities, OMB Watch submitted comments that stated the top IRS priority should be the creation of a bright-line definition of prohibited political intervention for charities and religious organizations exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The IRS is continuing its public education efforts to inform groups about the prohibition on partisan election activities and will soon release two field directives for IRS agents to guide them in enforcing the rules.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new, stricter national air quality standard for ozone is being challenged in multiple court actions, all of which are asking a federal appeals court to review the final rule. Although the new standard, announced March 12, is an improvement over the previous standard, environmental groups, state and local governments, and business interests all have filed lawsuits hoping to force the EPA to reconsider its decision.