Hundreds of regulations may not officially have the force and effect of law because rulemaking agencies have not performed a simple procedural task, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report issued last week.

Under the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that essentially gives Congress a window of opportunity to veto agency regulations, agencies must submit to Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) copies of new final regulations.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a revision to the national air quality standard for ozone, a.k.a. smog. EPA is proposing to tighten the primary standard to a level somewhere between 0.060 and 0.070 ppm (parts per million), down from the current standard of 0.075 ppm set in 2008. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA must set the primary standard at a level protective of public health.

Oh, boy, it's that time of the month again, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its Monthly Budget Review (MBR) for December. Let's see, the government spent a little less than it did at this time last year, but it continued to take in less money, which, along with the deficits in October and November, created an approximately $390 billion budget deficit through the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. Overall, the MBR continues to paint a rather ugly picture of government finances.

President Obama still has not nominated an undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as Congress Daily reports today. Almost a year into his administration, the Food Safety Inspection Service – the federal agency in charge of making sure meat, poultry, and eggs are safe and labeled properly – is still without a leader.