Government Matters Articles

"Unauthorized" Appropriations

Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its annual House and Senate reports listing the various FY 2002 appropriations whose authorization has expired or will expire before the start of FY 2003.

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Administration Kills Contractor Responsibility Rule

Two days after Christmas, with no one around to object, the Bush administration quietly revoked a Clinton-era rule that promotes greater accountability for federal contractors -- to make sure they comply with important public protections. Specifically, this contractor responsibility standard instructed government contracting officers to look at a bidding company's compliance with the law (including tax laws, labor laws, employment laws, environmental laws, antitrust laws and consumer protection laws) before awarding taxpayer dollars.

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OMB Identifies Regulations for Repeal

As part of its annual report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulation, released last week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a list of 23 "high priority" regulations it believes should be rescinded or revised. Many of these regulations are health, safety, and environmental standards, including major clean air and water standards (e.g., New

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OMB Issues Final "Data Quality" Rules

On January 3, 2002, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued final "data quality" rules, effective immediately. The rules were published pursuant to a rider on the FY 2001 Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-554), which requires OMB to publish guidelines that "provide policy and procedural guidance to Federal agencies for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal agencies." The rider requires agencies to issue their own implementing guidelines that include "administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency."

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Campaign Finance Reform Nearing Goal In House

OMB Watch has urged Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) to strengthen the portion of their bill dealing with exceptions to the ban on broadcast "issue advocacy" during an election cycle.

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FEC Won't Appeal Ruling Against Its Express Advocacy Definition

On December 11 the FEC decided not to seek Supreme Court review of a Virginia case finding their regulation, 11 CFR 100.22, unconstitutional. The vote was a 3-3 tie, and a majority is needed to request the Solicitor General to take up the case.

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State And Local PACs Seek Exemption From IRS Disclosure Law

The difficulty for state and local PACs arises because of the way soft money is often spent. Only "hard money" is subject to FEC regulation and soft money spent on federal elections is often mixed with soft money spent on state and local elections. The law's purpose is to force disclosure of soft money spent on federal elections.

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State Update: Michigan

Michigan House passes bill after dropping language that would have prohibited Michigan nonprofits from using any resources that are "from a public body or a person acting on behalf of a public body" for advocacy around a state ballot initiative.

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Daschle's Speech, Fiscal Responsibility and Tax Cuts

Senate Majority Leader outlined the country's urgent domestic and military priorities and compared the pre-tax cut possibilities for domestic investment with the current post-tax cut reality's "unnecessary fiscal bind," but he did not directly call for a delay in the tax cut as a solution to this fiscal conservative's dilemma.

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More Budget Deficit Estimates Released

FY 2002 Appropriations Update Congress completed its work on the last 3 FY 2002 appropriations bills (Defense, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS-Education) on December 21 and the President is expected to sign all three of them and bring the appropriations season to an official completion. According to usbudget.com, the bills are being readied for the President's signature and he is expected to sign them on January 10, when the Continuing Resolution - passed on December 20 - expires. Though estimates by Democrats and Republicans of the size of the deficits differ, and will continue to grow substantially depending on the amount of additional homeland security and defense spending approved this year, both sides agree that the deficit will likely be at least $15 billion -- the Democrats are predicting it could be as large as $70 billion.

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