Featured Articles

1

"Obama at One Year" Webcast Series Update: Next Event Postponed

The next event in OMB Watch's "Obama at One Year" webcast series, covering implementation of the Recovery Act's transparency provisions, has been postponed until Feb. 24 or 25 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time due to inclement weather. It was originally scheduled for Feb. 10. The fourth session, on Feb. 18, will cover lobbying and ethics reform. Please RSVP today to join us for these panel discussions, either in person or at our online webcast headquarters.


NEW: An archive of the first webcast, on government openness, is now available, and additional archived footage will be coming soon!

Read More >>

2

An OMB Watch Statement on President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2010—President Obama has sent his budget request for fiscal year 2011 to Congress. Far from bringing change, it at best tinkers with federal priorities while perpetuating the wrong budget agenda.

Read More >>

3

OMB Watch Calls on the Obama Administration to Revise Regulatory Process

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2010—President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to executive department heads and agencies on Jan. 30, 2009, calling for a revision to the principles guiding the federal regulatory process. The memo required agencies to submit within 100 days recommendations for a new executive order. The memo also precipitated a call for public comments by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to gather the public's ideas for reforming the regulatory process. At the one-year mark of his administration, OMB Watch calls on the president to complete this process by issuing a revised executive order.

Read More >>

4

FDA Shifts Position on BPA but Says Its Hands are Tied

In its long-awaited decision on the dangers of bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it believes there is some concern about the effects of BPA on children. This is a shift from the agency's recent position that BPA is safe. The agency says its ability to regulate the chemical, however, is limited by FDA's outdated regulatory authority.

Read More >>

Sound and Furry or a Tell?

The Budget Brigade never finds itself short of words when it comes to commenting on the president's budget proposal. But it is, after all, just a proposal. What is the practical effect of the president's budget? Bruce Bartlett writing at Capital Gains and Games in a great post on of the history of federal budget making says "not much."

(Craig Jennings 02/05/10) Read More >>

Second Open Government Directive Deadline this Saturday

Despite the major snowpocolypse expected to hit DC tonight, some government agencies are getting a head start on the next major OGD deadline.  This Saturday will be the 60th day since the publication of the new agency-wide transparency policy.  Check out ProPublica’s Transparency Tracker for a full list of agencies that have developed an open-government website.

(Roger Strother 02/05/10) Read More >>

Estate Tax Foes Attempt to Enlist Religious Conservatives

Christian Soldiers Unite

It seems old Dick Patten at the American Family Business Institute (AFBI) is up to his old tricks again, trying to scare people about the estate tax with lies and distortions in an attempt to gin up support to kill the tax in Congress. This time, though, he's adopted pious language to spread the gospel of the "evils" of the tax among religious conservatives.

(Gary Therkildsen 02/04/10) Read More >>

Groups Call on Obama to Reform Faith-Based Office

OMB Watch, along with religious and public policy organizations, sent President Barack Obama a letter on the anniversary of the Executive Order establishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The groups asked Obama to, "take additional actions to prevent government-funded religious discrimination and protect social service beneficiaries from unwelcome proselytizing."

(Amanda Adams 02/04/10) Read More >>

Transparency Community Voices Concerns over Data.gov

Yesterday, a group of organizations, including OMB Watch, submitted concerns with the high-value datasets published on Data.gov in compliance with the requirements of the Open Government Directive (OGD) issued on Dec. 8. The OGD required that agencies submit at least three high value datasets within 45 days through Data.gov.   These groups outlined the major problems with the site and its implementation thus far.  I have summarized these issues below.

(Roger Strother 02/04/10) Read More >>