There’s no time like the holidays – when packages are wrapped up tight with paper only to be torn apart – to talk about paperwork. That’s why OMB Watch has submitted to the White House comments on improving implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Twenty groups, including OMB Watch, have sent a letter calling on Congress to include accountability and transparency provisions in any health care reform legislation. Specifically, the groups focused on federal advisory committees – panels that will provide critical advice on health care issues if legislation is passed. The groups represent a wide variety of public interest issues.

Czar oversight, or, more accurately, czar bashing, has been co-opted by conservative commentators and some Republican lawmakers. It seems conservatives are just trying to score political points by smearing czars, and smearing President Obama in the process. That’s a shame, because czar oversight is very much an apolitical issue, or at least it should be.

The Bipartisan Policy Center yesterday released a report that recommends ways federal agencies can ensure the integrity of regulatory science and improve the quality of regulations, especially those regulations informed by science.