Government Matters Articles

Anti Nonprofit Advocacy Provisions Dropped from Bill

On April 2, 2003, the House Subcommittee on Education Reform adopted a substitute for H.R. 1350, the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act of 2003. Chairman Michael Castle (R-DE), the bill's sponsor, dropped provisions that would have severely limited the ability of nonprofit parent centers that receive grants under the bill to communicate with the federal government.

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Read the Watcher in Full in Easy-to-Print PDF Format

For your convenience, the OMB Watcher is also available in full as a PDF document -- this will allow for viewing and printing of the entire issue in one document.

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State Reports Show Job Losses in Last 18 Months

A new report issued by the Minority Staff of the House Appropriations Committee reveals the total number of jobs lost in each state since January 2001, when President Bush took office.

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Estate Tax Repeal Supporters Losing Ground

In a move viewed by many as truly outrageous, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) introduced an amendment to the Senate Budget Committee’s budget resolution on March 19 – the day the country committed itself to billions of dollars for the war and its aftermath in Iraq – to accelerate the repeal of the estate tax by one year.

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House Passes Budget Resolution of Huge Tax Cuts, Program Cuts; Senate Votes Weds.

The House passed its FY 2004 budget resolution last week, officially kicking off the Congressional budget debates for the coming fiscal year. The Senate voted to preserve all but $100 billion of the President’s tax cut, but won’t complete work on the budget resolution until Wednesday, March 26. Though the budget resolutions of each chamber reflect much of the President’s own budget proposals, and especially his $726 billion tax cut, neither resolution passed without a great deal of effort among Republican leaders to ensure that Congressional members voted together.

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Model State Bills for Data Quality and Access

Apparently initial efforts have begun to develop data quality and data access legislation at the state level. OMB Watch has obtained model legislation for both bills that was reportedly drafted by the The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE), a strong supporter of both policy efforts at the federal level. Both state level model bills are clearly patterned after federal policies. The state data quality bill borrows heavily from the just recently completed Federal Data Quality Guidelines.

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Technology Opportunities Grant Availability for FY 2003

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a notice of availability regarding the federal Technology Opportunities Program (TOP). Nonprofits are encouraged to apply for the more than $14 million in funds to help deliver the public interest promise of telecommunications technology to underserved areas and communities in America. Applications are due by 5 p.m. EDT April 23, 2003. Application information is available on the TOP site, via e-mail at: top@ntia.doc.gov or by calling (202) 482-2048.

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Faith-Based Initiative Update

The House of Representatives is continuing to move forward with its faith-based agenda despite the fact that the CARE Act is stalled in the Senate amid controversy over issues relating to hiring discrimination, protection of beneficiaries, preemption of state and local laws and the role of intermediary organizations. (See March 4, 2003 Watcher for background.) Draft amendments are still circulating, but the Administration has made it clear it will veto the bill if it passes with a prohibition on religious discrimination for hiring in program positions paid for with federal funds.

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Administration Denies Documents to Senate

Recently the Bush Administration asserted that numerous documents about changes in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fill policy being requested by the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee would be withheld citing "deliberative process privilege."

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Senators Use Data Quality Challenge

On March 6, Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a request for correction of information under the Data Quality Act. This is the first data quality challenge submitted by members of Congress. The request addresses a Modification of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit deadline for storm water discharges by oil and gas construction activity that disturbs one to five acres of land.

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