Government Matters Articles

Continuing Resolution, Part III

The House and Senate passed their third Continuing Resolution (CR) last Thursday, providing funding to keep the government operating through October 18. Passage of H.J. Res. 122 was required to prevent a government shutdown since none of the 13 annual appropriations necessary for federal programs to continue to operate has yet been enacted. It is anticipated that the Defense and Military Construction appropriations bills will be passed before a longer term CR is enacted.

read in full

CBO Says 2002 Had Largest Percentage Drop in Federal Revenue in 50 Years

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) Monthly Budget Review reports that the $137 billion drop in revenue for FY 2002 represents the largest one-year drop in 50 years. The combination of this reduction in revenue and the increase in spending in response to last year’s terrorist attacks, the increase in the unemployment rate, and steep increases in Medicaid costs amounted to a $157 billion deficit for FY 2002, which ended September 30. Though this return to a deficit represents a $254 billion turn-around from last year’s $127 billion surplus, the deficit is only 1.5 percent of GDP, a manageable size and a great deal smaller than the deficits of the mid-1980’s, which amounted to 6 percent of GDP. For an overview of CBO’s report on what happened to the surplus, see this OMB Watcher article.

read in full

Alliance for Children and Families: National Family Week

The Alliance for Children and Families along with thousands of people across the United States will join together during the 32nd annual National Family Week, November 24-30. This nationwide awareness campaign recognizes strong families and children are at the center of strong communities. National Family Week is observed the week of Thanksgiving, a time when many families traditionally celebrate their connections with one another. Accordingly, the theme, Connections Count, embraces the premise that children live better lives when their families are strong; and families are strong when they live in communities that connect them to quality education, child care, employment opportunities, transportation, and other social investments within the communities where they live and work. Local events are being planned across the country, including family fun festivals, parades, balloon releases, Family Week awards, and art contests. For more information about how you can participate, visit www.nationalfamilyweek.org to download a free how-to guide or find an Alliance member near you.

read in full

Too Much Spending? Or Not Enough?

Only 9 billion dollars separates the House and the Senate Budget Committee FY 2003 discretionary spending totals, but this small divide has been widened by continuing efforts to limit spending on domestic programs. Each of the budget proposals that has been put forth calls for reductions in this year’s real per capita spending from last year’s levels. Yet a recent analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) argues that we are nowhere near a discretionary “spending explosion,” in either domestic or military spending.

read in full

U.S. Department of Education Website Drops Record Number of Electronic Files

The U.S. Department of Education recently sparked controversy in the education and research communities for its decision to both remove and delete information from its agency websites, in the interests of consolidating information and making it more usable and accessible to the public. Critics charge that it is both an effort to remove information with which the Bush Administration does not agree, and symptomatic of broader long-standing problems facing intra- and inter-agency electronic document and records management.

read in full

Administration Gives Panel on Childhood Lead Poisoning an Industry Tilt

The Bush administration is packing an advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning with those friendly to industry and predisposed against new regulation, according to a new report released by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA).

read in full

Comment Deadline Extended on FERC Rule Limiting Public Access

On October 9, 2002, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced it was granting a 30-day extension for public comments on the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued September 5, 2002, and published in the Federal Register on September 13, 2002 in Docket Nos. RM02-4-000 and PL02-1-000.

read in full

Campaign Finance Reform Update

Below is a summary of new developments concerning campaign finance issues. BCRA Rulemaking

read in full

Appropriations Update

While timeliness has not been a hallmark of appropriations bills in recent years, this year is proving exceptionally slow. According to budget procedures, appropriations bills are supposed to be finished by June 30 to leave plenty of time to reconcile differences between the House and Senate before the new fiscal year, which starts October 1. But this year, not a single appropriations bill has been sent to the president, and neither house has completed action on all 13 appropriations bills.

read in full

Commerce Department Extends and Amends ICANN MOU

On September 20, the Commerce Department announced its intention to extend its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is charged with management of the Internet domain system, for another year until September 2003. ICANN's arrangement with the Commerce Department dates back to November 1998, but has long been fraught with dissatisfaction and contention around issues of accountability, scope of governance, and representation of public and public interest perspectives within ICANN.

read in full

Pages

  • ©2015 Center for Effective Government
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.