Publications :  The Watcher :  OMB Watcher Vol. 6: 2005 :  April 19, 2005 Vol.6, No.8 : 

In This Issue

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House Again Passes Irresponsible Estate Tax Repeal (04/19/2005)
For the third time in four years the House of Representatives passed a bill last week to permanently repeal the estate tax. The irresponsible and dangerous bill (H.R. 8) will cost $290 billion over the next 10 years but hidden within it are astronomically higher costs after the first decade.

No Compromise Seen in Budget Negotiations (04/19/2005)
It has been over a month since the House and Senate passed their fiscal year 2006 budget resolutions, yet GOP negotiators have not made significant strides toward reaching compromise between the two chambers. While only the Senate has named conferees to the conference committee, informal talks between House and Senate leaders have begun to point to difficulties ahead.

Billions Lost Annually Due to Tax Evasion (04/19/2005)
As tax day approached last Friday, there were a number of events in Washington, DC, dedicated to the issue of tax evasion and compliance. There is great concern in Congress and also among tax experts around the country about the detrimental effect the lack of tax compliance has on individual Americans and the broader U.S. economy.

Homeland Security Won't Remove Hazmat Signs (04/19/2005)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced April 7 that it will drop a proposal to remove warning placards from railcars carrying hazardous materials that pose a toxic inhalation risk. The decision came after firefighters and other first responders warned that removing the signs could endanger those transportation workers and emergency personnel who respond to accidents involving hazardous materials, and communities through which the shipments travel. DHS was considering the removal of placards due to terrorism concerns.

Public Interest Group Sues IRS Over Access (04/19/2005)
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University that disseminates federal government statistical information, filed a lawsuit April 14 against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for withholding information about enforcement actions that has been publicly available for the past 30 years. The center filed the lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after the IRS rejected a request for the statistical data, claiming releasing it could compromise homeland security.

Senate Whistleblower Bill Leaves Committee, FBI Whistleblower Hearing Set (04/19/2005)
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs favorably reported out a bill April 13 that would strengthen whistleblower protections. The measure, the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S. 494), would amend the Whistleblower Protection Act to provide additional protections for federal employees.

Judge Upholds D.C. Hazmat Ban (04/19/2005)
On April 18, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan upheld a new Washington, DC, law prohibiting hazardous cargo rail shipments near the U.S. Capitol. Sullivan said that the District has a right to protect itself from an accident involving hazardous chemicals, because the federal government has failed to do so.

Faster Freedom of Information Bill Introduced in House (04/19/2005)
On April 13, Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the House version of the Faster FOIA bill, H.R. 1620, which would establish a commission to report on delays in responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and recommend solutions. The Senate version, S. 589, also a bipartisan bill, passed favorably out of the Judiciary Committee on March 17.

EPA Late Again with Toxic Release Data (04/19/2005)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has significantly missed its publicly stated goal of March for the release of the 2003 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The agency made several changes to its data management in an effort to streamline the process, apparently to no avail. In recent years, the agency has been releasing the annual TRI database in May or June.

Disclosure Helps Chemical Security (04/19/2005)
The Wisconsin county of Waukesha has addressed chemical safety and security concerns with reporting and disclosure requirements stronger then those established by the federal government. The county has long used public disclosure of risks and hazards as a means to reduce and manage risks from toxic chemicals. A recent congressional report supports the county's approach concluding that reporting and disclosing chemical inventories and associated hazards promotes risk reduction.

Free E-Filing for IRS Form 990 Available (04/19/2005)
The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is offering free electronic filing for nonprofits that file the annual Form 990 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) online. The process offers features that make filling out the form easier and helps make it more accurate.

Administration Stifles Dialog on Social Security (04/19/2005)
The Bush administration has denied use of public facilities to a group critical of its version of Social Security reform, while using federal resources to pay for propaganda and promotion of its agenda. It refused to allow a women's group to hold a conference on Social Security at the National Archives because they did not have a speaker supporting private accounts. The same week three people were ejected from a federal government supported town hall meeting on Social Security in Colorado because their car had an anti-war bumper sticker.

IRS Checking Form 990 Against Watch Lists (04/19/2005)
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is screening applications for tax-exempt status for terrorist names, IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson testified at an April 5 Senate Finance Committee hearing on nonprofit accountability and tax compliance. The IRS's counter-terrorism project, focusing on the abuse of charities, is developing an electronic capability to review filed Forms 990 and 990-PF for terrorist names.

Senate Finance Committee Discusses Nonprofit Accountability (04/19/2005)
On April 5, the Senate Finance Committee continued its examination of accountability, governance and oversight of the nonprofit sector in a hearing titled "Charities and Charitable Giving: Proposals for Reform." The hearing focused mostly on the valuation of non-cash contributions, excessive compensation, transparency and the sharing of information.

527 Reform Bill Sponsors Circulate Amended Version (04/19/2005)
A draft substitute amendment to S. 271, the 527 Reform Act of 2005, is being circulated by sponsors Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI). It removes some problems with the original bill, but still would subject independent political organizations to the same regulations as parties and federal candidates.

Corporate-Conservative Alliance Plots Attack on Safeguards (04/19/2005)
From many small and supposedly disconnected proposals, a larger pattern is emerging: corporate special interests and conservative lawmakers are conspiring to mount a comprehensive assault on regulatory protections, on a scale equivalent to the broad-based attacks of the Contract With America.

Local Governments Demand UMRA Changes to Avoid Accountability (04/19/2005)
State and local governments addressed a Senate subcommittee and called for an expansion of provisions in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) that would further relieve them from their obligations to provide important public protections.

House Considers Anti-Regulatory Hit List (04/19/2005)
The White House's anti-regulatory hit list took center stage in a House committee hearing, during which GOP members and White House regulatory czar John Graham praised the hit list as a gift to the manufacturing sector while Democratic members criticized the entire project as yet another example of a corporate special interest takeover of government.

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