Government Matters Articles

FEC Holds Hearings on Proposed Rule After Receiving Record Number of Comments

After two days of public hearings with testimony from thirty witnesses and over 200,000 public comments received, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was no closer to resolving the complicated issue of re-defining the reach of its regulation than it was when it published its proposed rule in March. The FEC is scheduled to make a final decision on the proposed rules in mid-May; however, some Commissioners have publicly commented that they may take additional time to consider the volume of comments they received before taking any further action.

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OMB's Peer Review Proposal Improved But Still Flawed

After receiving strong opposition for its peer review proposal from scientists, environmentalists, and public interest groups, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a massively revised version of the guidance and is seeking public comment on the new version. While many of the changes are significant improvements over OMB's initial policy, the new proposal fails to address some of the most fundamental complaints.

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9/11 Tops Ten Most Wanted Documents Report by New Anti-Secrecy Coalition

The federal government too often uses terrorism and national security as an excuse to keep unnecessary secrets. There is a great need for more information from government to make our families and communities safer, and this need has been clearly articulated in the results of a survey released last week by OpenTheGovernment.org, a new coalition aimed at fighting secrecy and strengthening democracy.

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White House Changes Experts' Report on Health Effects of Mercury

The White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made changes to a report from the National Academy of Sciences on the toxicology of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that is especially dangerous to pregnant women and young children. According to documents obtained by the New York Times, White House staff made editorial interventions in the report, which was commissioned by Congress to establish the science on the risks associated with mercury. The White House's alterations downplayed the risks of mercury, replaced specific enumerations of mercury-related harms with bland, general

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Moving Towards A Long-Term Proactive Tax and Budget Initiative

As a community, nonprofit service providers, issue advocates, and policy wonks alike spend most of their time fighting against "bad" policies like program cuts or tax giveaways to the wealthy. Rather than remaining on the defensive, the sector should begin laying the groundwork for a positive vision of what it considers to be sound tax and budget policy.

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Understanding the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax)

The cost of "fixing" the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is often mentioned as one of the "hidden" tax expenditures that must be addressed.

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Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?

Learn how the federal government spends your income tax dollars, how the tax dollars of the average household are spent in your state (and selected cities and counties), and how your taxes might be spent differently (with trade-offs and the like) by reading the National Priorities Project’s tax day release "Where do your tax dollars go?"

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Bush Tax Shifts

Two recent analyses show that the so-called "Bush tax cuts" are as much about shifting the burden away from wealthy Americans as they are about lower taxes for all.

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The Estate Tax: By the Numbers

The Tax Policy Center has recently posted tables displaying the impact of the estate tax. The analysis shows just how few people would benefit from a repeal of the estate tax:

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Welfare Re-Authorization Fails in the Senate

The Senate failed to pass the reauthorization of the 1996 Welfare Reform bill last week. Regardless of the bill’s noted importance, members of the Senate could not agree on many issues within the bill.

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