| In This Issue |
Federal Budget
House, Senate Pass Irresponsible FY06 Budget Resolutions
Smith, Kennedy Amendments Could Doom Budget Resolution
Despite Compromise, House Conservatives Could Threaten Budget Resolution
Bush Pushes Private Accounts as Public Support Drops
Bush, Congress Hide True Costs of Permanent Tax Cuts
House, Senate Pass Irresponsible FY06 Budget Resolutions
Smith, Kennedy Amendments Could Doom Budget Resolution
Despite Compromise, House Conservatives Could Threaten Budget Resolution
Bush Pushes Private Accounts as Public Support Drops
Bush, Congress Hide True Costs of Permanent Tax Cuts
Information & Access
Freedom of Information Legislation Moving Forward
Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program
Sunshine Week Shines Surrounded by Secrecy’s Shadows
Data Quality Act Debated
Nonprofit Issues
527 Reform Legislation Heats Up in the Senate
IRS Asking Justice Department to Step in on NAACP Audit
Court Says AmeriCorps Teachers in Catholic Schools Allowed to Receive Subsidies
OMB Rejects Findings on Propaganda Using Federal Funds
Bush Budget Fails to Support Non-itemizer Deduction
Study Shows Business Outspends Nonprofits 5-1 on Issue Ads
Regulatory Matters
Appeals Court Rejects Right of Action in Open Government Law
GOP Threatens to Turn ‘Unfunded Mandates’ Into Roadblock
White House Endorses Parts of Anti-Regulatory Hit List
House Committee Approves Government Performance Rating Bill
Bill for DHS to Waive All Law Rides on Iraq War Supplemental
Is Cost-Benefit Analysis Needed?
House, Senate Pass Irresponsible FY06 Budget Resolutions (03/21/2005)
The House and Senate passed separate versions of the fiscal year 2006 (FY06) budget resolution last week that would allow for additional tax cuts, mostly targeting wealthy families, while cutting back on spending for programs that serve middle- and low-income America. A split within the GOP ranks may spell trouble for reconciling the two budget resolutions, and, as with the current year, would mean Congress would operate without a budget blueprint.
Smith, Kennedy Amendments Could Doom Budget Resolution (03/21/2005)
The Senate narrowly passed its fiscal year 2006 (FY06) budget resolution late on the night of March 17 by a vote of 51–49. Several amendments from Democrats that would have greatly improved the bill, including one that would have required both spending increases and tax cuts to be paid for, were narrowly rejected. But two amendments dealing with entitlement and discretionary spending, which did pass, could cause irreconcilable differences between House and Senate versions.
Despite Compromise, House Conservatives Could Threaten Budget Resolution (03/21/2005)
On March 17, the House debated and passed the fiscal year 2006 (FY06) budget resolution by a vote of 218–214, one week after the House Budget Committee voted along party lines to report out the resolution. House GOP leaders managed a last-minute compromise with a number of conservative Republican members of the House Study Committee who threatened to vote against the bill in the weeks leading up to the vote — but final passage will still be very difficult.
Bush Pushes Private Accounts as Public Support Drops (03/21/2005)
President Bush has recently increased his efforts to sell the American public on his plan to privatize Social Security despite continuing evidence that more and more Americans are rejecting his proposals. Yet even while launching a “60 cities in 60 days” tour, the president and other administration officials have been carefully maneuvering to allow whatever reform is adopted to be seen as a victory for the administration.
Bush, Congress Hide True Costs of Permanent Tax Cuts (03/21/2005)
Both the president and Congress have advanced five-year budget plans in 2005. These plans help to mask the true cost of policies to extend the president’s first-term tax cuts permanently, which explode after the current proposed budget window ends in 2010.
Freedom of Information Legislation Moving Forward (03/21/2005)
The week of March 14 was an important week for open government, with the introduction of two pieces of legislation to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — the Faster FOIA Act, and the Restore FOIA Act. Additionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first oversight hearing on FOIA since 1992.
Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program (03/21/2005)
On Feb. 18, California State Sens. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and Don Perata (D-East Bay) introduced SB 600, a biomonitoring bill entitled “The Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program.” The bill proposes establishing a statewide program to measure toxic chemical exposure levels of state residents by testing blood, tissue, and urine samples from Californian volunteers. If passed, California will be the first state in the nation to track and report on the presence of toxic chemicals in its citizens.
Sunshine Week Shines Surrounded by Secrecy’s Shadows (03/21/2005)
Government secrecy has become so pervasive and overgrown that journalists last week used newspapers, TV, and radio to focus public attention on the problem and promote open government as part of the first-ever national Sunshine Week.
Data Quality Act Debated (03/21/2005)
Data Quality Act experts, featuring OMB Watch’s Sean Moulton, will be debating the faults and merits of the Data Quality Act (DQA) at a March 30 discussion hosted by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). Among the law’s aspects to be discussed are judicial review, and its implications for environmental protections.
527 Reform Legislation Heats Up in the Senate (03/21/2005)
On March 8, the Senate Rules Committee held a hearing to consider the 527 Reform Act of 2005 (S. 271). The hearing revealed the complexity of issues raised by the proposed extension of federal election regulations to independent political committees (527s). The testimony and questions from senators highlighted the likely consequences of passing the bill in its current form, including migration of soft money to 501(c) groups, who, unlike 527s, do not disclose donors. Rules Committee Chairman Trent Lott (R-MS), a co-sponsor of the bill, said he wants to move the bill quickly, in order to prevent a �train wreck� in the 2006 federal election. Meanwhile, an alternative 527 bill was introduced in the House of Representatives.
IRS Asking Justice Department to Step in on NAACP Audit (03/21/2005)
The Internal Revenue Service is referring to the Justice Department the refusal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to respond to an IRS summons, according to BNA. The case arose in the fall of 2004 when the IRS notified the NAACP it was conducting an examination into whether a speech by Chairman Julian Bond that criticized policies of President Bush constituted prohibited campaign intervention. NAACP has requested the examination be closed, and the IRS has told the NAACP it has made no conclusions about whether illegal partisan activity took place, and that the group is unlikely to lose its tax-exempt status.
Court Says AmeriCorps Teachers in Catholic Schools Allowed to Receive Subsidies (03/21/2005)
On March 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that taxpayer funds can subsidize volunteer instructors that teach in religious schools. The ruling reversed a July 2, 2004 decision by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who admonished the government for failing to monitor programs sufficiently to ensure compliance with the law and called the line between secular and religious activities "completely blurred." The American Jewish Congress (AJC) may appeal the decision.
OMB Rejects Findings on Propaganda Using Federal Funds (03/21/2005)
On Feb. 17, David M. Walker, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Comptroller General, issued a letter to all federal agencies reminding them that Congress banned use of federal funds for propaganda, and during 2004 “several prepackaged news stories produced and distributed by certain government agencies violated this prohibition.” On March 11, the Bush administration rejected these findings by sending a contradictory memo to agency heads.
Bush Budget Fails to Support Non-itemizer Deduction (03/21/2005)
The Bush Administration has indicated that it will no longer push for passage of the non-itemizer deduction, even as a new study shows the provision would increase charitable giving. However, the non-itemizer provision remains a centerpiece of legislation introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and a priority for Republican leadership.
Study Shows Business Outspends Nonprofits 5-1 on Issue Ads (03/21/2005)
The Annenberg Public Policy Center has published new research examining legislative issue ads, focusing on the Washington, DC, area during the 108th Congress. They found "Corporate interests outspent citizen/cause interests by more than five to one," and that advertising on many issues was one-sided. Not surprisingly, the side that spent more was more likely to have a favorable outcome.
Appeals Court Rejects Right of Action in Open Government Law (03/21/2005)
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), an open government statute designed to guarantee that committees advising federal agencies are not biased, does not create a private right of action.
GOP Threatens to Turn ‘Unfunded Mandates’ Into Roadblock (03/21/2005)
Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have fired the first shots in an upcoming battle to turn the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act into an insurmountable obstacle to legislation designed to address unmet needs.
House Republicans fired first by launching a series of hearings, and Senate Republicans followed up with an under-the-radar section in the budget resolution that uses UMRA to make it harder to pass laws such as an increase in minimum wage or improvements in civil rights protections.
White House Endorses Parts of Anti-Regulatory Hit List (03/21/2005)
The White House released the final version of its 2004-05 anti-regulatory hit list, with a report detailing 76 out of 189 items from the industry-nominated list that received the endorsement of the White House and agencies.
House Committee Approves Government Performance Rating Bill (03/21/2005)
The House Government Reform Committee favorably reported out of committee the Program Assessment and Results Act, a bill that would have the effect of codifying the administration's controversial tool for rating program effectiveness. The bill is expected to move to the House floor this spring.
Bill for DHS to Waive All Law Rides on Iraq War Supplemental (03/21/2005)
The House of Representatives voted to attach H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act — a bill that includes a dangerous provision empowering the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all law when securing the nation’s borders — as a rider to the Iraq war supplemental, which passed the House and now is moving to the Senate.
Is Cost-Benefit Analysis Needed? (03/21/2005)
Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is often touted by the administration and conservative think tanks as a neutral tool in policymaking, but recent studies by legal scholars show that CBA is inherently political and may even advise against what we consider our most immutable public protections. Three recent articles examine the neutrality of CBA both in theory and in practice and analyze the arguments of CBA's greatest proponents. This analysis reviews those articles and critiques CBA as a regulatory tool.