The National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) legal challenge to the stealth lobbying disclosure provisions in the 2007 lobbying and ethics reform law was rejected by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 11. After the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay pending appeal, NAM announced it would comply with the law while its appeal proceeds by disclosing members who contributed more than $5,000 toward lobbying in a quarter and have supervision, control, or active participation in NAM's federal lobbying efforts.

Congress continues to wrestle with a number of high-profile budget and financial bills that will have broad impact on citizens throughout the United States and around the world, including legislation on war funding, economic stimulus, housing, and the last budget of the Bush presidency. Despite significant congressional rhetoric and media coverage of these efforts, Congress has made little real progress on reaching compromise or instituting policies.

In an April 17 letter, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that its enforcement program on partisan activities by charities and religious organizations will remain in effect for the 2008 election season. The IRS announcement provided some helpful information on how the agency will consider cases involving charities' websites, but it muddied the waters for organizations that publish voter guides. The announcement does little to mitigate the vagueness of the standard, a problem Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) addressed in a hearing where he called for a bright-line rule defining what is and is not allowed.

The huge farm bill reauthorization under discussion among House and Senate conferees contains two food safety-related items that could help regulatory agencies better protect the U.S. food supply and provide consumers with more information when making purchasing decisions. First, the bill contains country-of-origin labeling, primarily for marketing livestock by-products. Second, it proposes a bipartisan food safety commission to review the existing food system and make recommendations for improvements.