The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in its annual "Mid-Session Review" recently projected that the U.S. federal budget will see an unprecedented $691 billion deterioration in its budget situation -- moving from record surpluses of $236 billion in 2000 to record deficits of $455 billion in 2003.


Budget Cuts Strain State, County and Municipal Public Health Departments (07/28/2003)
The "invisible" infrastructure of the U.S. public health system is crumbling.

A Forward Look at the Budget (07/28/2003)
How long can OMB's Rosy Scenario keep telling those pretty lies?

Estate Tax Planning and Charitable Giving (07/28/2003)
Losses to charities and the people they serve would likely exceed the estimated $10 billion a year if the estate tax is repealed, because of the impacts on charitable giving behavior from total elimination of the tax.

Children Bear Brunt of Federal Tax Cuts (07/28/2003)
In the absence of federal assistance, childcare, education, and children’s health programs are being slashed across the country despite their popularity and effectiveness.

Still No Extension of Child Tax Credit for Low-Income Families (07/28/2003)
As 25 million families begin receiving their checks from the IRS for the $400 per child increases in the child tax credit, House Democrats used a series of procedural floor votes on July 23 to bring attention to the fact that no progress has been made to extend the credit to low-income families.

The Earned Income Tax Credit "Pre-Certification" Plan Opposed by Senate Democrats (07/28/2003)
Efforts to stop the proposed "pre-certification" of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients have growing support in the Senate.

9/11 Report Recommends Public Accountability, Greater Openness (07/28/2003)
The Joint House-Senate Inquiry released its long awaited report last week on the September 11th intelligence failures. One of the most interesting and disconcerting aspects of the report is what portions of the report the administration chose to classify. While the report outlines recommendations for increased accountability for intelligence agencies, reform of the classification system, and increased access to information for the American public, the administration chose to withhold information, seemingly to protect Saudi Arabia, a key foreign ally, rather than for national security reasons.


Bush Administration Ignores Whistleblowers (07/28/2003)
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) recently released statistics showing the government’s failure to act on a growing backlog of whistleblower cases. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is the small federal office charged with reviewing whistleblower claims backlog of cases.

Investigations Continue into the Texas Partisan Battle (07/28/2003)
In the aftermath of a partisan battle between Texas legislators in May, (see the June 2nd Watcher article) both the Department of Justice and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are examining their possible misuse of resources.

An Attack on Nonprofit Speech (07/28/2003)
OMB Watch released a paper today, An Attack on Nonprofit Speech: Death by a Thousand Cuts, that provides a summary of how the Bush administration and conservative allies have effectively moved to control nonprofit speech. Instead of a single legislative or regulatory proposal that would limit nonprofit speech, the article notes, the Bush administration and conservative allies have proposed or begun implementing a number of proposals that are akin to a “death by a thousand cuts.” These “cuts” have suddenly accelerated in the last year.

Statement on Support of Foundation General Operating to be Issued (07/28/2003)
In mid-June, five foundations convened roughly 55 foundations and grantees, including OMB Watch, for a day-long meeting to discuss general operating support and other funding issues. During the meeting there was considerable support for two points -- foundations should do more general operating support, and foundations should cover the real costs of overhead. The co-hosts of the meeting agreed to pursue more detailed documents on these points. They appointed two committees and have announced that a process will unfold allowing others who could not attend to provide comments on the materials once they are developed. Below is the statement of the foundation co-hosts.

House Charitable Giving Bill to Move in September (07/28/2003)
It appears the Charitable Giving Act (H.R. 7), a House bill providing incentives to increase charitable giving, may begin to move. A tentative mark-up of the bill is scheduled for September 4 in the Ways and Means Committee.

USDA Issues Long-Awaited Listeria Standards (07/28/2003)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently issued long-awaited standards to control listeria monocytogenes (commonly known as listeria), a dangerous food-borne bacterium often found in ready-to-eat foods.


Roadless Rule Struck Down (Again) (07/28/2003)
A federal district court in Wyoming recently struck down the Clinton-era roadless rule, which protects 58.5 million acres of pristine U.S. Forest Service lands from logging and development -- the latest in a series of court decisions concerning the measure.

House Votes to Block Country of Origin Meat Labeling (07/28/2003)
The House, acting with the support of the Bush administration, recently voted to block implementation of standards that require meat and meat products to bear a label indicating their country of origin.

EPA: No Permits Required for Pesticides In or Over U.S. Waters (07/28/2003)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a recent guidance document, declared that applying pesticides directly in or above U.S. waters with the purpose of controlling insects does not require a pollutant discharge permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Graham Advises Ose to Scale Back Bill on Regulatory Budgeting (07/28/2003)
The House Government Reform committee recently held a hearing on a bill (H.R. 2432), sponsored by Rep. Doug Ose (R-CA), that would test regulatory budgeting at five agencies, including EPA and the departments of Labor and Transportation.

EPA to Assess Carper Bill with Same Model Used on Clear Skies (07/28/2003)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to analyze Sen. Tom Carper’s (D-DE) “Clean Air Planning Act” (S. 3135) with the same model used to show increased benefits for President Bush’s Clear Skies plan.

Increase In Rollovers Leads to Highest Highway Fatality Rate Since 1990 (07/28/2003)
Highway fatalities, boosted by a rise in the number of rollover crashes, increased by 1.5 percent in 2002, reaching the highest level since 1990, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

What Chemicals are in Your Water? (07/28/2003)
The chemical revolution over the last 50 years has brought great benefits; it has also exposed us to unknown risks from thousands of untested chemicals that now circulate around us and inside of us.

EPA to Reconsider Roll Back of Air Standards (07/28/2003)
The Bush administration has agreed to reconsider a final rule issued in December that weakens air-pollution standards for factories, refineries, and power plants.

American Chemistry Council's Comments Demonstrate Need for Public CII Docket (07/28/2003)
Industry’s willingness to use homeland security as an excuse to expand secrecy and limit public access to information is apparent in the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) comments on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposed Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) rule. While DHS has yet to decide on when to allow access to the docket of public comments on the proposed CII rule, OMB Watch was able to obtain a copy of ACC’s comments. The comments from this industry association demonstrate the importance of allowing the public to understand the input it received from special interests.

Public Comments Sought for Online Federal Contract Pilot (07/28/2003)
In a June Federal Register notice, the General Service Administration (GSA) announced a planned pilot project to make Federal contracts publicly available online. The project would require all federal departments and agencies to post contracts on the Internet. This proposal signals a major attempt to increase the level of transparency and accountability in the contract process. Public comments are sought by GSA in order to set priorities for the project.

EPA Requests Comments on Changes to TRI Reporting (07/28/2003)
The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed several changes to the Form R under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in an attempt to better organize data collection, after receiving feedback from stakeholders.