The Day in Transparency 4/5/2011

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Here is Tuesday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events.

News Roundup:

  • Former Sen. Ensign (R-NV) aide Doug Hampton pleaded not guilty to seven counts of violating lobbying conflict-of-interest laws. (The Hill)(Roll Call $)
  • House Republican leaders have introduced a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown on Friday at midnight. (Government Executive)(The Hill)
  • In a speech yesterday the chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board gave examples of how auditing firms sell themselves to clients by suggesting that, if chosen, the auditors will not engage in rigorous oversight. (Washington Post)
  • The White House announced that it is releasing the code that powers its IT Dashboard, the site that provides public data on federal technology investments, as open source code. This will allow software developers to use the code freely. (Tech President)
  • Nerd Collider is gathering public feedback regarding ways to make data.gov more usable and worthwhile. (Nerd Collider)
  • GSA has not been thoroughly reviewing contractors’ work, despite being required to do so in order to maintain authority over the Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract. (Federal Computer Week)
  • Opinion: Michael Kinsley tells the story of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and the pressure on these mega corporations to perpetuate the culture of influence peddling through “hiring lobbyists, paying lawyers vast sums by the hour, throwing lavish parties for politicians, aides, journalists and so on.” (Politico)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 4/5:

House:

  • Financial Services. 10:00am. Capital Markets Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee. Markup of H.R. 31 – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Accountability and Transparency for Taxpayers Act, and other pending legislation. Rayburn House Office Building, 2128.
  • Natural Resources. 2:00pm. Water and Power Subcommittee.  On creating abundant water and power supplies and job growth by restoring common sense to federal regulations.  Public witnesses.  Longworth House Office Building, 1324.
  • Oversight and Government Reform. 1:30pm. Health Care, District of Columbia, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee.  On waste and abuse issues in government health care.  Dept. and public witnesses. Rayburn House Office Building, 2154.
  • Ways and Means. 2:00pm. Human Resources Subcommittee.  On examining a GAO report on duplication of government programs focusing on welfare and related programs.  Dept. and public witnesses.  Rayburn House Office Building, B-318.

Senate:

  • Appropriations. 10:00am. Subcommittee on Financial Service and General Government. Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2012 and oversight of prior year funding for the Department of the Treasury. Senate Dirksen Building, 138.

Relevant bills introduced:

House:

  • H.R. 1349. A bill to establish an advisory committee to issue nonbinding governmentwide guidelines on making public information available on the Internet, to require publicly available Government information held by the executive branch to be made available on the Internet, to express the sense of Congress that publicly available information held by the legislative and judicial branches should be available on the Internet, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
  • H.R. 1363. A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. (Continuing Resolution)

Senate:

  • S. 717. A bill to establish an advisory committee to issue nonbinding governmentwide guidelines on making public information available on the Internet, to require publicly available Government information held by the executive branch to be made available on the Internet, to express the sense of Congress that publicly available information held by the legislative and judicial branches should be available on the Internet, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Transparency events scheduled for 4/5: