The third-party audit system, in which private companies take over responsibility for inspecting worksites and production facilities, has been shown to expose Americans to significant health and safety risks while eating, working, and breathing.

President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (Jobs Council) recently released its 2011 year-end report, Road Map to Renewal. The report comes one year after Obama tasked the Jobs Council with developing "a set of recommendations to create jobs in the short run and improve our nation's competitiveness over the long term." The report includes recommendations on tax reform, manufacturing, energy, innovation, education, and regulation and has been widely criticized for offering a one-sided "corporate" agenda. While the Jobs Council wrote that "getting the regulatory balance right is important," its proposals on regulatory "reform" narrowly favor corporate interests. The proposals, which mischaracterize the important role of regulation in protecting the American people, will not generate jobs or increase American competitiveness.

The use of genetically engineered (GE) crops has increased enormously over the last decade, without a corresponding increase in government oversight. Industry has fought hard against strict oversight and testing and has even blocked efforts to label GE food products as such, leaving U.S. consumers in the dark about how their food is produced and what it contains. As consumers have become increasingly concerned about food safety and health, demands for federal and state food labeling legislation have intensified.

The fiscal year 2012 spending package signed by President Obama on Dec. 23 included some good news for government transparency and right to know. Many of the worst provisions of the bill were removed from the final compromise, but open government advocates remain concerned.