President Barack Obama is expected to release his Fiscal Year 2010 budget on Feb. 26. Details of the spending blueprint remain vague, but media reports indicate that the president's budget, unlike those of his predecessor, will hew closer to real-world situations. For example, Obama's budget will include spending on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, physician reimbursements under Medicare, costs associated with natural disasters, and lost revenues from changes in the alternative minimum tax.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by new administrator Lisa Jackson, is taking its first steps toward tackling global climate change. Jackson has announced her intent to review several Bush-era policies that limited the agency's ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions through regulation.

When the Senate took up the $819 billion House-passed economic stimulus package (H.R. 1) the week of Feb. 2, not only did the chamber modify myriad spending and tax measures, but it also altered the bill's transparency and accountability provisions. The Senate's version of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), contains less detail on specific data the Obama administration must provide on stimulus spending. Neither version provides the level of detail that may be needed to collect and disseminate information about the type of jobs that are created or preserved, the wages paid to workers, or information about who may be getting such jobs. The assumption is that the Obama administration, through its Recovery.gov website, will tackle these thorny implementation issues.

During his recent confirmation hearing, Admiral Dennis Blair, the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI), derided the current classification system, which promotes over-classification of intelligence-related information. He discussed the need for a cultural change in the intelligence dissemination process that includes new training for analysts and greater accountability.