Government Matters Articles

Budget Shorts

Nine days until default; the Sojourners fight preemptive audits for low-income households; and the Children's Defense Fund releases their Action Guide. T-9 Days until default: The national debt is reaching its legal limit. Treasury Secretary Snow today told congressional leaders that May 28th, nine days from today, is the deadline: if Congress does not vote to raise the debt ceiling, the government must default on its obligations, and will not be able to make payments to Social Security recipients, to make tax refunds, or to pay any of its other bills.

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Defense Rider Gives Unjustified Secrecy to Intelligence Agency

The Defense Department's budget authorization bill for fiscal year 2004 includes a provision that would further shroud the National Security Agency (NSA) in secrecy, even though no public case has been made for the provision. The Senate language, included in the proposed FY 2004 Defense Authorization Act (S. 1050, sec. 1035), would exempt all "operational files" of the NSA from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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Stay of Campaign Finance Decision Granted

A host of entities involved in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of last year’s Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) have been granted a stay of a special federal three-judge panel’s ruling that declared some parts of the Bipartisan BCRA unconstitutional, while upholding others. The same panel granted the stay of its ruling on May 19th.

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Garbage In, Garbage Out: Two Bad Tax Cut Bills Won't Make One Good One

Conference negotiations to reconcile the tax cuts bills passed by the House and Senate are expected to begin tomorrow, and Congress hopes to pass a tax cut bill by the Memorial Day recess, although this may prove impossible.

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$28 Billion Question Mark

The Pentagon has spent almost all of the $28.5 billion in “emergency-response” funds allocated to them by Congress in the year after the September 11th attacks. However, almost nothing is available to the public explaining how the taxpayer’s money was spent. Apparently, even confidential reports to congressional staff leave too many questions about the expenditures unanswered.

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FBI Finally Returns Illegally Confiscated Package

An Associated Press package that was illegally confiscated, as reported in a March 24 OMB Watcher article, was finally returned to the AP after 7 months. The FBI returned the package on May 11, with general counsel Patrick Kelley acknowledging that they had mishandled the material. An internal disciplinary inquiry is taking place, as well as the development of guidelines on handling news media material.

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Data Quality Counter-Challenge

Recently, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service received their first challenge under the Data Quality Act. Soon after, they also received a precedent-setting counter-challenge. While several agencies have received a variety of challenges under the Data Quality Act, none have received a counter-petition.

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EPA Blasted for 'Senior Death Discount'

During a recent series of public meetings, senior citizens and public health advocates attacked EPA’s practice of assigning less value to the lives of those over 70 when monetizing the benefits of prospective regulation -- causing agency Administrator Christie Whitman to denounce the method herself. EPA employed this practice, which has been

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OSHA Continues to Issue Unenforceable Ergonomics Guidelines

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released draft voluntary guidelines for the prevention of repetitive stress injuries -- the most pressing health and safety issue confronting the workplace today -- at retail grocery stores. The guidelines are part of the administration’s feeble plan to replace mandatory Clinton-era ergonomics standards -- which were repealed by Congress at the urging of the Bush administration -- with a series of unenforceable guidelines targeted at specific industries.

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EPA Drops Risk-Based Exemptions in First of Six Air Rules

EPA recently issued final standards to address hazardous air pollution from the brick and clay products industry, leaving out provisions suggested in its draft proposal to exempt facilities based on the level of health risk posed to surrounding communities.

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