Government Matters Articles

Justice Punishes Employees Who Cooperate with Congress

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), has written several stern letters to Attorney General John Ashcroft accusing the Justice Department of punishing employees that have cooperated with Congress.

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Right-To-Know Resource Center Gives News Context

The Right-To-Know Resource Center provides critical resources on news of the day. Geared for reporters and other advocates who need background information on a timely issue, the Resource Center provides the context for understanding current events. For example, a recent Washington Post story focused on the long reach of a short law, the Data Quality Act, which allows the public (including corporations) to challenge the data underlying government rules. The Resource Center has background on the law and how the private sector uses it, along with recent reports by OMB Watch.

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Coalition Files FOIA Suit Against Homeland Security

A coalition of Illinois organizations filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Aug. 17 against the Department of Homeland Security to obtain information about discriminatory activities post 9/11. DHS never responded to the original FOIA request. The organizations filing the suit work closely on civil liberties and immigrant rights: American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, and the Muslim Civil Rights Center.

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Secrecy Law Raised in Albany Terrorism Case

The U.S. attorney's office invoked the rarely used Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) to limit the amount of information disclosed in a case against two men arrested in Albany, N.Y. This comes on the same day media sources revealed that the document the FBI used to link one of the men to terrorists was incorrectly translated.

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Watch for August 26 Release of Poverty, Income Statistics

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its latest statistics on income, poverty and health insurance coverage, a month earlier than usual. It will show the 2003 poverty rate, household income information, and the percentage of Americans who are uninsured using the Census Bureau's "Current Population Survey" (CPS).

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Recent Data Shows Decline in Nonprofit Employment, Earnings

On August 19, OMB Watch released a new report, "Recent Trends in Nonprofit Employment and Earnings: 1990-2004," which examines the recent history of employment and compensation trends in the nonprofit sector. It found that while growth in nonprofit employment continued during the 2001 recession and immediately after, it stalled over the past year, with significant declines in average hours worked, weekly earnings, and hourly wages. Data on individual states reflect this nationwide pattern.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Tax Cuts Go Mostly to the Rich

The Congressional Budget Office has released a new study detailing the impact of recent tax changes on various income levels. The bottom line: The very, very wealthy made out very, very well.

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White House Overrides Forest Service, Allows Gas Project

White House officials have overridden a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to deny a Texas energy company's request to explore for natural gas in a national forest, according to correspondence uncovered by the Los Angeles Times. Although the Forest Service originally denied the request by El Paso Corp. two years ago, the agency made an about-face earlier this month and laid the groundwork for a future approval of the company's request to drill in the Carson National Forest, a section of New Mexico's Valle Vidal adjacent to the nation's largest Boy Scout camp.

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Mine Safety Subordinated to Mining Company Interests

A front-page story in the New York Times August 9 examined the Bush administration's record over the last four years of subordinating mine safety issues to the special interests of the mining companies, stressing in particular the role of former mining executive Dave Lauriski, who is now head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Among the rollbacks of mining safety protections under Lauriski's leadership:
  • A proposed change to allow coal-dust levels in mines to quadruple, thus putting miners at a significantly increased risk of black lung.

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OSHA, Congress Weaken Workers' Protections Against TB

According to a July 30 memo from OSHA Deputy Assistant Layne Davis to OSHA Regional Administrators, field officers for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration must contact OSHA's Enforcement Directorate before issuing a citation of violations of new respiratory protection requirements for tuberculosis. This requirement further enervates a system of safeguards that has been increasingly weakened over the past year.

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