Renewing Government: Recommendations to President Obama and the 111th Congress

Renewing Government: Recommendations to President Obama and the 111th Congress

OMB Watch has teamed with dozens of organizations and individuals to provide key recommendations on government openness, reform of the regulatory process, government performance issues, and treatment of charities by counterterrorism authorities. Started well before the 2008 elections, the projects that produced these recommendations brought together diverse groups of people to work on some of the most pressing problems and concerns that currently face Obama and the 111th Congress.

21st Century Right to Know Recommendations
OMB Watch convened a group of hundreds of individuals and organizations from across the political spectrum to put together recommendations on government openness, information, and other transparency issues. The recommendations stress the need for the Obama administration and Congress to move the federal government's information disclosure and sharing policies and processes into the 21st century, which includes the efficient, effective use of modern Internet technologies. The recommendations fall into three categories: National Security and Secrecy; Usability of Information; and Creating a Government Environment for Transparency. The group has also lifted up a number of the recommendations as issues the Obama administration should tackle during its first 100 days.

Read the recommendations

Regulatory Reform Recommendations
To develop a set of critical regulatory reform recommendations for the president and Congress, OMB Watch convened a steering committee of regulatory experts from the public interest, labor, small business, and other communities. The steering committee worked to put forth a consensus document that reflects what it sees as the most important regulatory process issues for the president-elect and Congress. Ideas raised with President Obama and congressional leaders fall into a number of categories: Improving the quality of regulations; protecting scientific integrity within agencies; ensuring agency accountability; effective implementation and enforcement of regulations; bringing more transparency to the regulatory process; and increasing public participation in federal rulemaking. The steering committee has also highlighted those items that should be addressed during Obama's first 100 days in the White House and the first 100 days of the 111th Congress.

Read the recommendations

Visit the Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform Project page

Government Performance Recommendations
OMB Watch partnered with Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and Accenture's Institute for Public Service to craft consensus recommendations for the next president related to improving government performance measurement systems. The project convened a wide range of policy experts, academics, government representatives, and others to explore areas of agreement in a very disparate field.

Read the recommendations

Visit the Government Performance Project page

Charity and Security Recommendations
The Charity and Security Network, a project of OMB Watch, has formulated recommendations for President Obama and Congress. These ideas are aimed at tearing down barriers to legitimate charitable work found in current counterterrorism measures. The goals of these recommendations are to protect humanitarian aid and development programs, safeguard the work of human rights and peace advocates and U.S. nonprofits from those who support violence, and target unfair government rules for elimination.

Read a summary of the project's recommendations