Publications :  The Watcher :  OMB Watcher Vol. 6: 2005 :  September 6, 2005 Vol. 6, No. 18 : 

In This Issue

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Despite Recovering Economy, Poverty On the Rise for Fourth Straight Year (09/06/2005)
This year's Census Bureau report on nation-wide levels of poverty, income, and health insurance made clear that, although the U.S. economy expanded in 2004, the expansion did not extend to all Americans, in particular missing households most in need of a boost. The real income of a typical household has fallen for the past five years, despite steady economic expansion over the last three years. At the same time, the number of Americans living in poverty and lacking health insurance has increased steadily.

Circumstances Force Frist to Postpone Estate Tax Vote (09/06/2005)
Late Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) felt compelled by circumstances to postpone a vote on repeal of the estate tax, which he had scheduled to be the first item of business when Congress returned to Washington today. That it took Frist so long to postpone the vote typifies the misguided priorities of the entire movement for repeal of the estate tax -- an effort to reward the privileged few at the expense of millions of Americans who struggle to get by from day-to-day.

Finishing Appropriations Bills Will Be Juggling Act for Congress (09/06/2005)
Thanks to the House and Senate appropriations committee reorganization that took place earlier this year, the appropriations wrap up this fall promises to be particularly dreadful, causing headaches for politicians, congressional staff, and analysts alike. In a startling display of ignorance and lack of foresight, the House and Senate chose to reorganize their appropriations committees in an inconsistent and uncoordinated way. The result is a different number of appropriations bills in the House and Senate (11 in the House and 12 in the Senate) and committee structures that are not easily reconciled across the two chambers -- there are only six appropriations bills this year with identical jurisdictions.

Roberts Errs on Side of Secrecy as White House Counsel (09/06/2005)
Documents recently released from the Ronald Reagan library reveal that, while acting as White House associate counsel during the Reagan administration, John Roberts supported government secrecy and strenuously avoided any implication that the White House had an obligation to provide information to anyone, including Congress. On occasion, Roberts made small efforts to assist those seeking information. These, however, tended to be minor issues; and, even in these efforts, Roberts typically included disclaimers to prevent any assumption that the administration was required to respond.

Public Being Shut Out of Environmental Right-to-Know Hearings (09/06/2005)
House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) has established a congressional task force to review and make recommendations on how to 'improve' the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As the task force holds hearings around the country, however, environmentalists and ordinary citizens are finding it difficult to participate.

New Jersey Attorney General's Office Scraps Proposed Secrecy Rule (09/06/2005)
New Jersey's Office of the Attorney General has announced the state will abandon plans to establish controversial restrictions to its Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The restrictions, proposed in a state rule change, would have required requesters to prove a "need-to-know" before the state would release information about chemical hazards. The added burden on the public could have severely limited access to toxic-chemical inventories and other records widely used to monitor public health and safety, workplace conditions, and environmental quality.

Roberts Documents Show Troubling Disregard for Nonprofit Rights, Desire Not to 'Alienate' Industry (09/06/2005)
Recently released documents related to the nomination of John Roberts for chief justice of the Supreme Court reveal concerns he had over a 1983 proposal that would have prohibited recipients of federal grants or contracts from using their own money for lobbying and other forms of advocacy. The nonprofit community congratulated itself for beating back this "defund the left" proposal. The documents, however, suggest that what was heralded as a victory for nonprofits may have had more to do with the potential negative impact of the proposal on defense contactors such as TRW and Boeing.

Debate Over Grants Rules Heats Up as Groups Lose Funds, Challenge Policy (09/06/2005)
DKT International, a Washington-based charitable organization, has filed suit against the U.S. government over a grant condition that dictates organizations adopt a specific policy statement, while a second organization has lost federal funding as a result of a suit brought for noncompliance with grants rules for faith-based organizations. Both developments point to important issues in federal grants rules, the first challenging the degree to which government may dictate privately funded speech, the other demonstrating the practical problem of separating privately funded religious content from publicly funded programming.

FBI Documents Reveal Further Spying on Peace, Civil Rights Groups (09/06/2005)
Joint Terrorism Task Forces conducted surveillance of peace, civil rights and animal rights groups in Michigan and Colorado, according to documents released as part of a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of misuse of anti-terrorism funds. The ACLU is seeking documents for 16 organizations and ten individuals nationwide relating to the case, in which the ACLU alleges the FBI used state task forces to spy on domestic advocacy groups that oppose Bush administration policies.

American League of Lobbyists Proposes Principles to Guide Congressional Reform (09/06/2005)
Responding to Democratic-sponsored lobbying and ethics reform bills recently introduced in the House and Senate, the American League of Lobbyists (ALL) recently adopted a set of principles to guide lobbying reform. Among its recommendations is an expansion of the definition of lobbying to cover all types of legislative advocacy efforts, include advertising, media campaigns and grassroots efforts that are currently exempt from filing and disclosure requirements forms.

Roberts Showed Prudence in Reg Reform Initiative (09/06/2005)
Although Supreme Court chief justice nominee John Roberts worked for an administration generally hostile to regulation, documents released by the Reagan Library from his time as White House counsel reveal that he raised considerable objections to at least one of the period’s far-reaching regulatory "reform" proposals.

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