An Associated Press (AP) investigation released July 10 showed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been devaluing human life when it prepares cost-benefit analyses for new regulations. Federal agencies such as EPA use the life value, an inaccurate statistic, to help them determine whether a proposal's benefits will outweigh compliance costs to industry.

Now back from the July 4 recess, the Senate is expected to quickly take up the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) compromise passed by the House in June, with a vote as early as July 9. Despite opposition to the compromise legislation, particularly from civil libertarians, and a recent court ruling that cast doubt on the main arguments for granting immunity to telecommunications companies, the legislation is considered likely to pass.

A late June conference sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) featured a speech by President Bush praising the faith-based initiative as "one of the most important initiatives of this Administration." On July 1, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced his plan to restructure the program, criticizing lack of funds for the current effort and promising to bar religious hiring discrimination for federally funded positions. The next day, Republican presidential candidate John McCain issued a statement disagreeing with Obama on the hiring issue.

The nation's worst polluter, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), is refusing to sign enforcement agreements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that require DOD to clean up polluted sites nationwide. The military bases covered by EPA's enforcement orders may endanger public drinking water supplies as a result of the military dumping toxic pollutants at the sites.