Reports

The Obama Approach to Public Protection: Enforcement

President Barack Obama took office acknowledging weaknesses in regulation and arguing that special interests had taken control of the process. This report intends to determine whether the Obama administration has made progress in reinvigorating regulatory enforcement at the federal level. It focuses on three areas: worker safety and health, consumer safety and health, and environmental enforcement at federal agencies. This is the second of three OMB Watch reports evaluating the Obama administration’s record on regulatory issues.

read in full

Analysis of A Pledge to America

This analysis provides a detailed examination of the legislative proposals contained in the Pledge, covering three topics: proposals that affect regulations, tax and budget proposals, and transparency and accountability proposals. The Pledge is very different than the 1994 Contract with America, in which House Republicans presented a list of eight rules changes they would immediately make to House operations, followed by ten bills they would pass within the first 100 days.

read in full

The Obama Approach to Public Protection: Rulemaking

Rulemaking is an essential function of government, but it is one that is often overlooked or underappreciated. Rulemaking agencies are tasked with implementing the laws Congress passes, and the ensuing regulations can extend protection or opportunity to consumers, workers, businesses and the environment, often in areas where it is needed most. Conversely, poor regulations, or a lack of regulations, can imperil society and sow the seeds of disaster. This is the first of three OMB Watch reports evaluating the Obama administration’s record on regulatory issues. This report covers health, safety, and environmental rulemaking at federal agencies during the Obama administration from January 2009 through August 2010.

read in full

Recovery Act Transparency: Implementation and Current Issues

This report, Recovery Act Transparency: Implementation and Current Issues, details essential elements of Recovery Act transparency, including recipient reporting, program effectiveness assessment, and data accessibility issues. It makes a number of recommendations to improve Recovery Act accountability.

read in full

Controlled Unclassified Information: Recommendations for Information Control Reform

Controlled Unclassified Information: Recommendations for Information Control Reform shines a light on how government withholds unclassified information from the American people and offers recommendations on how to balance the need to protect sensitive materials with the duty to disclose information to the public.

read in full

Building a Better Government Performance System

OMB Watch partnered with Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and Accenture's Institute for Public Service to craft consensus recommendations for the next president related to improving government performance measurement systems. The project convened a wide range of policy experts, academics, government representatives, and others to explore areas of agreement in a very disparate field.

read in full

How Nonprofits Helped America Vote: 2008

How Nonprofits Helped America Vote: 2008 showcases specific examples to illustrate how nonprofit organizations stepped to the plate to help voters and communities. The report describes nonprofit efforts to make the election process seamless from state to state and to promote fair environments for constituents to vote in the 2008 election.

read in full

After Midnight

The Bush administration rushed out a host of problematic regulations in its final months. Many of these "midnight" regulations actually represent deregulatory actions that weaken or eliminate safeguards protecting health, safety, the environment, and the public's general welfare. This report, produced by OMB Watch and the Center for American Progress, explores how those rules came to be and what the Obama administration and Congress may be able to do about them.

read in full

The Bush Legacy: An Assault on Public Protections

 This report shows that attacks on a variety of common-sense regulations over the past eight years have taken a great toll on the United States. Though not intended to serve as a comprehensive record of every anti-regulatory effort by the Bush administration, this report uses clear examples to document a wide range of activity. The storytelling style of the report, crafted by freelance writer and author Osha Gray Davidson, helps readers begin to understand how much damage has been done under the watch of George W. Bush and his vice president, Richard B. Cheney.

read in full

Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform

To develop a set of critical regulatory reform recommendations for the president and Congress, OMB Watch convened a steering committee of regulatory experts from the public interest, labor, small business, and other communities. The steering committee worked to put forth a consensus document that reflects what it sees as the most important regulatory process issues for the president-elect and Congress. Ideas raised with President Obama and congressional leaders fall into a number of categories: Improving the quality of regulations; protecting scientific integrity within agencies; ensuring agency accountability; effective implementation and enforcement of regulations; bringing more transparency to the regulatory process; and increasing public participation in federal rulemaking. The steering committee also highlighted those items that should be addressed during Obama's first 100 days in the White House and the first 100 days of the 111th Congress.

read in full

Pages

  • ©2015 Center for Effective Government
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.