Policy Intern Cassandra LaRussa wrote this post. On Thursday, two internal Senate offices responsible for legislative transparency presented their fiscal... View Article
Continue readingBig financial interests chip away at Dodd Frank regulations
Today the House plans to take up two industry-backed bills dealing with derivatives, the hitherto opaque financial instruments so crucial to the 2008 meltdown, under a procedure usually reserved for noncontroversial matters.
A coalition of labor and consumer groups, Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), believes the bills, which have bipartisan support, should be controversial and is urging lawmakers to oppose them. "Both proposed bills are unnecessary and potentially harmful attempts to micromanage the work of regulators in implementing the Dodd-Frank Act," the groups argued. "They amplify the views of the regulated industries which already have overwhelmingly greater resources to intervene ...
Continue readingHouse Examines the Role of Technology in Transparency
Policy Intern Cassandra LaRussa wrote this post. On Wednesday, the role of technology in government transparency was the subject of... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/26/2012
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is the week’s first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings,... View Article
Continue readingWill the House’s Ethics Watchdog Be Silenced?
The future of the House of Representatives’ independent ethics watchdog is subject to speculation now that we’re again in appropriations season.... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/23/2012
Here is the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, long the lone major conservative outside group in congressional elections, is facing stiff competition from right-leaning super PACs this year. In response, the Chamber is planning to spend more than ever on the 2012 elections. (Politico)
- A new PAC, fueled by the power of Reddit, crowdsourced its major issues. Test PAC, which has raised almost $10,000 so far, is going to focus on campaign finance reform and defeating Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), champion of the controversial SOPA legislation. (Roll Call)
- The General Services Administration is losing a member of its Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs to Heather Podesta + Partners. Patrice Willoughby, formerly GSA's liaison to the House of Representatives, was approached by Heather Podesta about making the move. (National Journal)
- Federal agencies are taking different paths towards utilizing digital technology to reduce FOIA backlogs. There are several efforts underway, but officials acknowledged that they could be "harmonized". (Next Gov)
- Civic groups are pressuring New York State officials to adopt an open government "to-do" list, hoping to improve the way the state makes use of technology to make information more accessible to the public. (Tech President)
- A discussion in Mexico City focused on progress, challenges, and opportunities around transparency issues in Latin America. Representatives from Latin American countries that are scheduled to present their OGP action plans in April participated. (Global Integrity)
Health care lobbying groups head to the Supreme Court
If war is politics by other means, so is litigation. While there will be plenty of rhetoric today about President Obama's health care law on the second anniversary of its signing -- including a new op-ed by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was for the health care reform in Massachusetts before he was against it nationally -- the big battle begins Monday, when the Supreme Court opens an unusual three days of argument over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In many respects, the mega-case -- a compilation of six separate cases that have been wending through ...
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: “So much for government transparency”
The Arizona Public Interest Research Group awarded Arizona an A-minus on how it helps taxpayers find information online pertaining to government spending.... View Article
Continue readingThe Missing Open Data Policy
Open data policies aren’t doing nearly as much good as they can, because they usually fail to require new information... View Article
Continue readingBanking money fuels senators who want to slow down Volcker
The six senators who introduced legislation Thursday to slow down implementation of the "Volcker rule," designed to prohibit banks from profiting from trading on their own accounts, are the recipients of ample amounts of campaign cash from the financial industry.
Three Democrats and three Republicans are cosponsoring the effort to push back the effective date of a rule that has provoked bitter complaints from the banking industry. The Dodd-Frank law mandated that it go into effect July 21, the second anniversary of the financial regulatory overhaul. More than 17,000 comments have flooded into federal financial agencies. The proposed legislation ...
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