A key part of President Barack Obama’s Hope and Change promise was that he would not sign any non-emergency bills without offering the public five days to review and comment on the legislation. Since being sworn in, Obama has now signed two bills. In both cases, first the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act last week, and now the S-CHIP bill yesterday, President Barack Obama broke his 5 day review promise to the American people. And don’t get us started on Timothy Geithner.
Strike Two: Not only did President Obama fail to open the Ledbetter Act for public comment before he signed it, a violation of his pledge to boost transparency, but now his administration is refusing to release information on billion-dollar loan guarantees made to some of America’s largest banks. Bloomberg News, which is suing the government to obtain a variety of bailout-related information, reports: Bloomberg News asked the Treasury Department Jan. 26 to disclose what securities it backed over the past two months in a second round of actions to prop …
Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation reports: In a blog post announcing the President’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first piece of legislation he has signed, we are informed that the bill has been posted on the White House web site and is now open for comment… after the President signed it. For quite some time President Obama has promised that all non-emergency legislation will be open for public comment on Whitehouse.gov for 5 days before the President signs it. I am not sure what constitutes …
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) first came to power she promised, “the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history.” She has since flagrantly and repeatedly broken this promise. It is part of the reason Congress has record low approval ratings. Now President-elect Barack Obama is also making grand promises to create a more open and transparent government. We hope that, unlike Pelosi, Obama chooses to keep his promise to the American people. But so far the signs are not encouraging. Starting in mid-December Obama’s advisers have huddled …
As defenders of the free market, The Heritage Foundation fully supports Google’s private sector investments in clean energy technologies. However, there are some troubling nuggets of information buried in today’s New York Times article on Google’s energy interests. Miguel Helft reports: Google has also increased its lobbying in Washington on energy issues. … Google has gone to great lengths to conceal how much electricity it uses in its data centers. For instance, Google agreed to build a $600 million data center in Oklahoma only after the State Legislature passed a …
On Sept. 17, 1787, 39 of the original 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document that would eventually become our Constitution. In 2005, Congress passed a law designating today as Constitution Day and directed all educational institutions receiving federal funds to honor the day by holding “an educational program on the United States Constitution.” The Senate probably does not consider itself an “educational institution” but a fight over earmarks in the defense authorization bill offers an excellent chance for lawmakers to educate themselves about the principles behind our …
ST. PAUL — The Heritage Foundation has long believed that a more informed populace will lead to greater government accountability and less wasteful spending. That is why we were so eager to partner with the Sunlight Foundation on their Exposing Earmarks project. In that same spirit, we are very proud to feature a guest post today from Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt: I established the Missouri Accountability Portal to equip taxpayers with new power to hold the government accountable for what it spends. In the year since the spotlight came on, …
Next week the Labor Department will propose changes to its union financial reporting and disclosure requirements in an effort to improve transparency and accountability. The proposed rule will give rank-and-file union members more information about union finances. It is the latest effort by the Bush administration to increase transparency for labor unions after years of decline during the Clinton administration. (Visit UnionReports.gov for more information.) The proposed rule modifies a 2003 change to the LM-2 form, which is required for unions with annual receipts of $250,000 or more. It also …
The expectations were low for the Senate Fiscal Reform Working Group, so today’s proposal to bring greater transparency, debt reduction and oversight can’t be viewed as a total disappointment. It demonstrated that even some of the Republican Party’s biggest porkers acknowledge that the favor factory needs to be cleaned up. But as earmark warrior Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said today, it should be viewed as a first step, not a final solution. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a notorious appropriator, deserves praise for recognizing the problem with earmarks. The …
A congressionally approved website devoted to earmark reform is on the verge of falling victim to a petty political fight on Capitol Hill. The House’s chief administrative officer, Dan Beard, today told Minority Leader John Boehner that the site, earmarkreform.house.gov, would have to come down because it doesn’t comply with House Administration Committee rules regulating congressional websites. Boehner is protesting the decision, questioning the timing of Beard’s decision and complaining that it amounts to a “gag order.” The site launched on Feb. 12, just weeks after a united House Republican …
