Government Matters Articles

Final Soft Money Rule Limits Candidate Fundraising for Nonprofits

The FEC has approved a final rule implementing the soft money ban in the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), which becomes effective the day after the election this fall. It limits fundraising and donations by federal candidates and political parties for groups exempt under 501(c) that are involved in voter registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts for federal elections, even if they are nonpartisan. Fundraising for Political Action Committees (PACs) (exempt under 527 of the tax code) is also prohibited.

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Confidential Interim Report on Chemical Plant Safety Stirs Little Reaction in Congress

In 1999, President Clinton signed the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act (P.L. 106-40), and also directed the Justice Department (DOJ) to conduct a study of site security at chemical plants. An interim report on the study was due August 5, 2000, and the final report was to be completed by August of 2002. DOJ missed the first deadline, offering a lack of funding as the excuse for not getting the interim report out on time.

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Senate Passes E-Gov Bill

The Senate unanimously passed legislation on June 27 that pushes the federal government to provide greater Internet access to information and services, authorizing $345 million over the next four years for an e-government fund, just one part of the bill. The administration opposed this legislation (S. 803, the E-Government Act) as originally introduced by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), but negotiations over the last year led to a compromise agreement and cleared the way for passage.

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Activist Central Service Allows Easy Access to Congress

As part of our newly re-designed website, OMB Watch would like to invite nonprofits to use our Activist Central system. Over the next few issues of the Watcher, we will be highlighting different features of the system.

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Campaign Finance Update

Soft Money Going to States, Congressmen Propose Bill for Free Air Time for Candidates, Tax Credit for Small Campaign Contributions, and the Supreme Court Overturns Limits on Judicial Candidates Study Shows Soft Money Going to States

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Congressman Tauzin Supports Information Restriction

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and senior Committee Republicans announced their support for increasing government secrecy in the name of national security.

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Estate Tax Repeal Proponents Launch New Round of Misleading Attack Ads

Repeal proponents may have failed to secure enough Senate support to make estate tax repeal permanent (see this OMB Watch article) in their June 12 vote, but that vote seems to have only strengthened their resolve. They have launched attack ads against a number of Senators who voted to for reform over repeal of the estate tax instead of repeal it.

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Bumping Our Heads Against the Debt Ceiling

On June 28, the day Congress is planning to leave for the July 4 recess, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill has warned that the government will run out of money to pay its bills unless Congress increases the limit on how much the Treasury can borrow. This means parts of government, if not all of it, will no longer properly function, and government will default on its bills. This has been publicly described as a showdown between the Bush administration and Congress, but in fact it is really a showdown between Bush and the Republicans in the House.

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Sludge -- Good for Fish?

Last Wednesday, June 19, the House Resources Committee held a hearing on the dumping of 200,000 tons of toxic sludge into the Potomac River by the Army Corps of Engineers. "And, despite the fact that this practice is in blatant, indisputable violation of both the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of re-issuing the Corps' permit to dump," according to Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), chairman of the Parks Subcommittee. A recent story in the

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A Resounding "No" to Estate Tax Repeal

On June 12, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) to make repeal of the estate tax, which under current law only expires for only one year, in 2010, permanent. Repeal advocates needed 60 votes to send the House-passed estate tax repeal bill on to the President for his signature, but only received 54 votes -- 44 Senators, including 2 Republicans, voted against repeal. This is even fewer votes than repeal proponents received in February on a non-binding .

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