Government Matters Articles

OMB Finalizes Peer Review Proposal

Shortly before the holidays, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a final version of its bulletin to establish government-wide requirements for when and how federal agencies use scientific peer review. The final bulletin makes modest changes to the revised proposal that OMB published April 28, 2004 which only allowed a 30-day comment period. OMB’s announcement did not explain the seven-month delay until just before the holiday season, when many academics, scientists and public interest groups concerned with the policy were away on vacations.

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Working Group on Community Right to Know Joins OMB Watch

Since 1989, the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know has helped people defend and improve our right-to-know about environmental and public health concerns. As of January 2005, the Working Group was merged into OMB Watch and will focus on outreach activities.

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Illinois State Police Issue Gag Order

A new Illinois State Police policy could silence whistleblowers that expose corruption, impropriety or wrongdoing within the police department by prohibiting employees from talking to news reporters. The gag order came soon after a November 2004 Chicago television news station story exposed improper conduct on the part of state police guarding the governor. The report questioned the size of the governor’s security force on out-of-state trips and detailed how bodyguards allowed unauthorized people to drive or ride in state vehicles, among other things.

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Wisconsin Speaker Pushing for New Sunshine Law

A Wisconsin lawmaker recently proposed state “sunshine” legislation aimed at providing more transparency in the state’s contracting process. Currently, details about government contracts are not available to the public.

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Seen and Heard: 109th Congress Opens with Host of Tough Issues

The 109th Congress of the United States opened last week, with much of the fanfare surrounding GOP pre-session planning (particularly ethics committee rule changes) and the decision of a few Democrats (including Senator Boxer from California) to hopelessly challenge the presidential election results from Ohio during the electoral college count on Thursday.

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Social Security Reform Comes Front and Center

The debate on Social Security continues to rage, with scores of new articles, reports, and speeches generated every week. Analysts, economists, politicians and a wide range of others on all points of the spectrum have been holding briefings, discussions, and forums addressing how and when to reform the Social Security investment program.

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Halving the Deficit Will Involve Major Changes—or ‘Fuzzy Math’

Anybody who listened to President Bush speak during his campaign heard a few specific messages reiterated again and again, loud and clear. One addressed the federal budget deficit, which at 3.6 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2004 was the highest it has been in over a decade. Bush has vowed to halve the deficit by 2009. He repeated this promise in a December press conference, stating he will cut the deficit in half while continuing to pursue both making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent and providing “every tool and resource for our military.”

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Court Strikes Down Restrictions on Private Funds for Legal Services Programs

On Dec. 20, 2004 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York struck down application of a 1996 rule imposing restrictions on Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funds on private funding of legal aid groups. The judge denied the plaintiffs' challenge to the restrictions on direct LSC funding. In Dobbins v.

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Rocket Fuel Ingredient Ignites Controversy

Perchlorate, a key ingredient in rocket fuel that is associated with developmental delays, can be found in lettuce from Florida, bottled water from California, and organic milk from Maryland, according to initial data from the Food and Drug Administration. Although it is too soon to determine whether perchlorate contamination of food and water is truly widespread, the FDA’s early results are nonetheless the latest chapter in a dispute pitting environmental and public health against industry influence over science and the prerogatives of the Department of Defense.

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Food Supply Called 'Easy' Target for Terrorists

The Food and Drug Administration’s response to bioterrorism has done little to protect our food supply, prompting even the outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services to show concern. In his resignation remarks last week, Tommy Thompson told press that he believed that it would be “easy” for terrorists to contaminate our food supply. “For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do,” he said, adding that he “worried every single night” about terrorist threats to the nation’s food supply.

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