In the wake of allegations of violations of House rules, particularly about lobbyists paying for congressional travel by Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), two Democrats plan to introduce a bill to increase disclosure of federal lobbying and tighten other rules affecting the influence of lobbyists. At the same time, Republicans announced their own plans aimed at tightening and enforcing House ethics rules. However, the Democrats' bill appears to have picked up steam when House Administration Committee Chairman Robert Ney (R-OH) expressed interest in crafting a bipartisan approach to reform.

President Bush signed an $82-billion emergency war funding supplemental into law on May 11, one day after the bill received Senate approval. The Senate voted unanimously for passage despite some questionable provisions. And with the ink barely dry on the emergency fiscal year 2005 (FY05) supplemental, House appropriators are already discussing the next round of war funding, which the Pentagon may request as early as August.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against Washington, DC (D.C.), on its law requiring that shipment of hazardous chemicals be rerouted around the nation's capital. The three-judge panel released its unanimous opinion May 3, overturning a lower court's decision to uphold the ban. The city may either appeal the panel's opinion to the full appeals court or return to the lower court for a hearing on the law.

The Bush administration again defended its anti-regulatory hit list to Congress, this time presenting the initiative as a boon to small manufacturers in a hearing before the House Small Business Committee that also featured renewed calls for regulatory sunsets. The committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight held a hearing on April 28 to discuss the White House's hit list of regulatory protections to be weakened or eliminated supposedly for the benefit of the manufacturing sector.