Publications :  The Watcher :  OMB Watcher Vol. 7: 2006 :  August 8, 2006 Vol.7 No.16 : 

In This Issue

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Contracts and Grants Disclosure Bill Fast-Tracked (08/08/2006)
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs unanimously passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) on Aug. 8. The bill would create a searchable website that provides information about all federal spending, including government contracts and grants. Following the quick committee action, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the committee's chair and ranking member respectively, jointly requested that the bill be fast-tracked and brought to the Senate floor for a unanimous consent vote. Unfortunately, time ran out for the unanimous consent request to reach the floor before the August recess.

Renewed Call for FOIA Improvement Legislation (08/08/2006)
Experts testified last month at a subcommittee hearing of the House Government Reform Committee that agencies still have a long way to go toward improving their handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Their testimony, along with troubling findings from a congressional report on FOIA, may help move reform legislation forward.

Safer Chemicals Provision Improves Federal Chemical Security Bill (08/08/2006)
The House Homeland Security Committee on July 27 passed what is being hailed by public interest groups as a substantially improved chemical security bill, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 (H.R. 5695). The bill, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Lungren (R-CA), establishes security requirements for our nation's chemical facilities, something that critics charge is long overdue. The original bill, however, had serious flaws, among them failing to require companies to use safer technologies and preempting states and localities from establishing their own security programs.

Bush Nominates Anti-Regulatory Zealot to Head Regulatory Policy (08/08/2006)
The White House has nominated Susan Dudley, an anti-regulatory extremist from the industry-funded Mercatus Center, to an obscure but powerful office where she would have the power to gut the federal government's very ability to protect the public.

Sunset Legislation Delayed Until September (08/08/2006)
In a sign that public pressure from concerned citizens works, the two sunset commission bills in the House scheduled for floor votes the week before August recess were both delayed until September.

FEC Releases Proposed Exemption for Grassroots Lobbying Broadcasts (08/08/2006)
The Federal Election Commission is set to vote soon on a grassroots lobbying exemption to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's election-season ban on broadcast communications that discuss a federal candidate.

GAO Finds More Grantee Input, Standardization Needed in Grants Streamlining (08/08/2006)
A new report by the Government Accountability Office found that, while some progress has been made in the federal government's effort to simplify and streamline grant-making procedures, there is still room for improvement. Consequently, federal grantees may be continuing to divert resources from program objectives to comply with burdensome administrative requirements.

Senate Defeats Estate Tax Giveaway...Yet Again (08/08/2006)
The Senate voted last week to reject a tax and wage package dubbed the "trifecta" that would have slashed the estate tax permanently, increased the minimum wage modestly, and extended a broad set of tax breaks. The bill, passed by the House last month, also contained a number of "sweeteners" to entice targeted senators to vote for the bill.

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