The release of the first round of Recovery Act contracts spending data marks the first time that recipients of federal funding have been required to report to the federal government on their use of the funds in a timely and transparent manner. This represents an important milestone in government transparency and accountability. However, the poor data quality and Recovery.gov's limited functionality hinder the promise of a new era of fiscal transparency – at least for this round of recipient reporting.
Congress is preparing to pass a second continuing resolution (CR), as the first stopgap appropriations measure is set to expire on Oct. 31 and little progress has been made toward completing the remaining appropriations bills in the Senate. As the window of opportunity to pass all the appropriations bills individually continues to close, even the once-optimistic head of the Senate appropriations process has stated that Congress will likely have to use an omnibus spending bill to finish the work before the end of 2009.
A new report from Environment America uncovers a dirty truth in publicly available government databases about the country’s waterways – widespread toxic pollution dumped by industrial facilities. More than 230 million pounds of toxics were discharged into 1,900 waterways across all 50 states in 2007, including chemicals known to cause cancer and birth defects.
On Oct. 22, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) launched the website for the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), which will mediate disputes between the government and those who seek its information. The office, once in danger of being all but muted by the Bush administration, is showing signs of emerging as an independent arbiter seeking out creative solutions to old problems.
On Oct. 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved two pieces of chemical security legislation that encourage plants to switch to safer and more secure technologies. Although the bills still lack crucial accountability measures, they represent a major improvement over the flawed and inadequate temporary security measures currently in place.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has repeatedly inserted itself in the development of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program designed to study the effects of chemicals on human and animal endocrine systems.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently provided two assessments of EPA's weaknesses in enforcing water and air programs. The OIG cited management problems at the federal and regional levels that largely indict the Bush administration's lax approach to environmental enforcement.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has decided not to appeal a September ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in EMILY’s List v. FEC. That opinion struck down FEC regulations that limited donations to some nonprofit groups that engage in campaign activity. The FEC’s decision not to appeal may have major implications for campaign finance issues, as well as certain nonprofits' activity during upcoming elections in 2010 and 2012.
Civil rights groups are urging the Senate to reject a controversial amendment to the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations bill (H.R. 2847) currently working its way through Congress. Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Robert Bennett (R-UT) have proposed the amendment, which is designed to cut off funding to the Census Bureau unless the 2010 Census survey includes a question regarding citizenship and immigration status. The amendment flap has delayed passage of the CJS legislation, which would, in part, increase funding and restore speech rights to Legal Services Corporation (LSC) grantees.
