OMB Office of Mgmt & Budget

<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>used to block legis in B2 admin</b></font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>&nbsp;note rev door omb, dod, nasa</b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>capt 419
</b></font></p><p><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">see OIRA</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> graham tozzi</span></b></font></p><p><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">see DQA</span></b></font></p><p><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></b></font></p><p><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SEE RAO</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>html&nbsp;</b></font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">chopping block</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>see nancy beck acc&nbsp; &nbsp; OIRA&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></font><a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard">https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard</a><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b>&nbsp; </font></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">promoted primary 5/18</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha-let: omb always a gop tool, so not surprising when mick/djt used in ukraine</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/century-of-influence/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/century-of-influence/</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many ? 1 graf</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
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</div><div><b>A CENTURY OF INFLUENCE</b></div><div><b>The unlikely partnership between Big Oil and the White House</b></div><div><b>How the industry stalled action on climate change from the inside and sold America on fossil fuels</b></div><div>Illustration by Robert Fresson</div><div>by Jie Jenny Zou</div><div>Chris Young, Rachel Leven contributed reporting</div><div>
</div><div>December 12, 2017</div><div>A version of this article was co-published with Guardian US.</div><div>When Rick Perry [2 22 early trump coup "aggressive stratrgy"] was interrupted by climate-change protesters during his address to the National Petroleum Council in late September, the energy secretary was ready with a retort.</div><div>
</div><div>“You want to talk about something that saves lives? It’s the access to energy around the globe,” Perry said, countering a woman worried about deadly hurricanes and a man whose hometown is being submerged by the rising Philippine Sea. “I am proud to be a part of this industry. I am proud to be an American."</div><div>
</div><div>It was an opportunity for the former Texas governor to champion an industry he’d long embraced by showing fealty to the petroleum council, an arcane federal advisory committee dominated by energy executives. Picking up on Perry’s message was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has pledged to fast-track drilling and open more areas to fossil-fuel development.</div><div>
</div><div>The two took turns reassuring the council’s nearly 200 members during a meeting at the opulent Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, D.C., that the White House would be a friend, not foe, to Big Oil. “We’re now in the business of being partners, rather than adversaries,” Zinke said. “If I were in the industry, I’d be pretty happy.”</div><div>
</div><div>It wasn’t the first time that global warming had been cast aside by the Energy Department’s petroleum council, successor to a wartime body created by President Harry Truman. In 1972, the council buried the industry’s own climate research with the help of<b>&nbsp;top executives at the American Petroleum Institute (API)</b>, a longtime ally that once shared a building with the council.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">API has gone far beyond the lobbying typical of trade associations, helping spawn permanent substructures within the executive branch that ensure its voice is heard.</span>&nbsp;These government entities, which include the petroleum council and an obscure but powerful White House office, have for decades worked in tandem with API to fortify the oil and gas industry, its critics say, often at the public’s expense.</div><div>
</div><div>Excerpt from a transcript of API’s 1959 “Energy and Man” symposium at Columbia University in New York.&nbsp; The Hagley Museum]</div><div>
</div><div><b>API’s history on climate issues goes back farther than most realize. As early as 1959, it grappled with global warming, hosting a conference where the looming, manmade catastrophe was discussed. As the environmental movement was blossoming, API — with the government’s support — was working behind the scenes to undermine it by distorting projections of regulatory costs. An enduring false narrative was constructed: the economy or the environment.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>For nearly a century, API has enjoyed special access to the executive branch,&nbsp;</b>furtively shaping policy from the inside. Now, under Donald Trump, the industry smells victory on multiple fronts with a White House that openly detests regulation as much as it does.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;<b>Days before Trump’s inauguration, API President Jack Gerard heralded the “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reshape energy policy.</b></span></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Fifty-two environmental rules have since been overturned or are in the process of being rolled back</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;API has publicly supported at least 23 of these actions.</span>&nbsp;In May, the institute also sent a<b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">25-page wish list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Among the items it wants reconsidered: tougher standards for<b>&nbsp;ozone&nbsp;</b>— the main ingredient in smog — and<b>&nbsp;regulation of methane,</b>&nbsp;a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>API officials did not respond to interview requests from the Center for Public Integrity</b>. On its website, the institute says, "We negotiate with regulatory agencies, represent the industry in legal proceedings, participate in coalitions and work in partnership with other associations to achieve our members’&nbsp;<b>public policy goals</b>."</div><div>
</div><div>Neomi Rao at a congressional hearing for her 2017 appointment to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division of the White House Office of Management and Budget. U.S. Senate]</div><div>
</div><div>‘Regulate the regulators’</div><div><b>“I asked my staff for a joke, but it’s still going through cost-benefit analysis,” Neomi Rao said from a podium in October, drawing hearty laughs from a mostly male crowd of lobbyists, lawyers and policy analysts at the Heritage Foundation — a libertarian think tank based in Washingto</b>n.</div><div>
</div><div>It was a tongue-in-cheek nod to the little-known agency&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Rao has led since July — the&nbsp;</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,</span>&nbsp;</b>which she called a “small but mighty” division of the White House Office of Management and Budget.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Her staff of roughly 50<b>&nbsp;reviews the costs and benefits of all major federal rules</b>, providing the stamp of approval needed to turn proposals into regulations — or spiking them.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“If you are a very pro-regulatory administration, then you are not going to appreciate the work that OIRA does,” Rao warned the audience, likening her office to a&nbsp;<b>“roadblock” against burdensome policies that hurt the economy.&nbsp;</b>“The pace and scope of deregulation that’s occurred is truly unprecedented, and we’re just getting started.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The pace and scope of deregulation that’s occurred is truly unprecedented, and we’re just getting started.”</span></div><div><b>Rao — a constitutional scholar who clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas</b>&nbsp;and<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;often shared pizza with the late Antonin Scalia —&nbsp; has embraced her role as “regulatory czar,” pledging to surpass a Trump executive order to eliminate two existing regulations for each one created. Though she is an ardent supporter of leaner and more restrained government, she plans to&nbsp;<b>staff up OIRA and broaden its powers.</b></span></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>How, exactly, she’ll do this is a mystery — much like the inner workings of OIRA itself.&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The agency has r<b>outinely come up short of basic transparency guidelines</b>&nbsp;recommended by the Government Accountability Office, garnering a reputation on Capitol Hill as a black box that heavily edits or kills regulations with little explanation in Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Cass Sunstein, who led the office during the Obama administration, has since defended the practice of&nbsp;<b>derailing particular rules by putting them on a “shit list.”</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>While OIRA has resisted public scrutiny, it has held its doors open for industry.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;Since April 2014, 35 of OIRA’s 712 meetings on proposed EPA regulations have been with API representatives — including a 2015 conference call with institute President Gerard over ozone.</span>&nbsp;<b>The institute, along with the American Chemistry Council and ExxonMobil, ranked among the top 10 groups that met with OIRA from 2001 to 2011. Such encounters carry weight:</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;A 2015 study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers found the agency was more likely to edit rules when lobbied by industry than by public-interest groups. Rao’s office did not respond to requests for comment,&nbsp;</span>but OIRA notes on its website that it will meet with “any party interested in discussing issues on a rule under review.” [NON-DENIAL DENIAL?&nbsp; I TALK TO TRUMP ALL THE TIME]</div><div>
</div><div><b>The office’s bias toward industry can be traced to its founding. Though OIRA was created in 1980, its roots date to the EPA’s formation in 1970. As a counterweight, President Richard Nixon established the National Industrial Pollution Control Council, an advisory committee within the Commerce Department made up entirely of industry executives.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Frank N. Ikard, former API president]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Virtually no major move is made in environmental policy without drawing on your advice and criticism,” Secretary of Commerce (and, later, Nixon campaign adviser and Watergate figure) Maurice Stans told the committee in 1971. Members regularly reviewed and commented on draft regulations before they were released to the public, weighing in on matters such as leaded gasoline and the Clean Air Act.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Stans took special interest in the pollution committee’s oil and gas subgroup led by Standard Oil Chairman J.K. Jamieson, who regularly invited API President Frank Ikard and API public-affairs executive P.M. Gammelgard to its meetings</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Staff from the National Petroleum Council were also on hand. Together the men coordinated a public-relations effort emphasizing the enormous costs the oil industry claimed it was absorbing to improve the environment.</span></div><div>
</div><div>[Excerpt from the National Petroleum Council’s 1971 summary report to the White House&nbsp; National Archives and Records Administration]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In February 1971, the pollution committee advised Nixon aides to prioritize costs. The White House budget office obliged that October by creating a new program called “</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Quality of Life Review,” which would assess major environmental, health and safety regulations. Tapped to lead the agency was</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;bureaucrat Jim Tozzi,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;who had shown a passion for deregulation at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</span></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Jim Tozzi describes himself as the father of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs</b></div><div>Administrative Conference of the United States]</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“Quality of Life” became all about reining in the EPA</b>, Tozzi explained during an interview with the Center for Public Integrity<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Occupying a floor of the Executive Office Building next to the White House, his office quickly went to work on the EPA’s proposed Clean Air Act guidelines. “I was like a little despot,” Tozzi said. “Somebody needed to regulate the regulators.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Under Jimmy Carter, the “Quality of Life” program became OIRA in 1980, with Tozzi as deputy administrator. In 1983, Tozzi left the agency to join a law firm headed by&nbsp;<b>William Ruckelshaus — the EPA’s first administrator, a Nixon appointee and an early champion of cost-benefit analysis</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;Tozzi now runs the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a think tank he founded and staffed with former OIRA employees that assesses regulations.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Tozzi said his plan for policing the EPA — and every other federal agency — has survived nine consecutive administrations and looks bright under Rao. “The Trump administration,” he said admiringly, “has gotten the number of regulations going out to a trickle.</b>”...</div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>task force</b>&nbsp;head&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joe Kelliher&nbsp;</span>ask lobby Dana Contratto wish list il duce 17&nbsp;<b>API fill in the bl exec order becomes 13211 verbatim&nbsp;</b>fed rel dir James Ford, dereg , no jud review p 17 !! [ = Halib Loophole?] &nbsp;3/1 IF Engelhardt and fred palmer eo and VP<b>&nbsp;<font color="#ff0000">peabody</font></b>&nbsp;met lundquist, sec of eng S Abraham, b2 eco advisor Larry Lindsey; stock offer IPO coming; 3/16 task rept hype coal 3/21 321 IPO got 420$mil, 60 over predicted</font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/indus.php?id=10910" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/indus.php?id=10910</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[[d<span lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="color: rgb(74, 60, 49);">ANA CHARLES CONTRATTO Dana Charles Contratto passed away of natural causes at his home on Long Beach Island, NJ on July 7, 2014. His three sons, Justin, Jordan and Travis, his grandson, Elias and Daune, his beloved wife of 41 years were all with him. Dana was born on June 21, 1947 in Peoria, Illinois to Jay and Dye Contratto. Dana grew up in Aurora, IL., with his kid sister, Lisa. As a youth he was a member of the Pike Street Pirates. A feared street-gang known for smoking cigarettes in tree houses and careening around the neighborhood cul-de-sacs on their bikes. Dana graduated from Aurora High School and went on to receive a B.S. from the University of Southern Illinois. In 1973 he received his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. While in law school he was editor-in-chief of the Urban Law Annual. Following law school, Dana moved to Washington D.C. with his wife, Daune. He clerked for Judge Edward Tamm the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit. In 1976 Dana entered private practice with Morgan, Lewis andBockius, then later with<b>&nbsp;Jones Day</b>&nbsp;before leaving to become a founding partner with<b>&nbsp;Crowell and Moring, LLP&nbsp;</b>where he headed the firm's Energy Group and International Dispute Resolution.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="color: rgb(74, 60, 49);">During his 40-year legal career Dana had a diverse and expansive practice.<b>&nbsp;He worked extensively as a lobbyist,</b>&nbsp;lawyer and legal counsel around the globe and was widely respected by all in his field. More importantly, he was a dedicated father who never missed a game and an avid - and successful - fisherman. He is survived by his loving wife, Daune McDevitt, his three children Justin (Polixene) , Jordan and Travis (listed in order of height) his father, W.R. "Dye" Contratto, his sister, Lisa Dickinson, and his grandson, Elias Contratto.&nbsp;<b>Notorious outlaw and straight-talker Dana Contratto has left us in peace</b>. We will never quite be able to fill the void...</span><span lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="color: rgb(74, 60, 49);">.]]</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="color: rgb(74, 60, 49);">
</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>e</b><span source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" web="Web" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="color: rgb(27, 27, 27);"><b>xecutive Order (E.O.) 13211</b>&nbsp;- Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use - was issued by President George W. Bush in 2001. It applies to any significant energy action as defined by the E.O. A significant energy action is one that promulgates, or is expected to lead to the promulgation of, a final rule that is:</span></font></p><ul source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" web="Web" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" text-align="text-align" start="start" style="text-align: center; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.5; padding-left: 3ch; color: rgb(27, 27, 27);"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); margin-bottom: 0.25em; max-width: unset;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866 and</font></li><li style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: unset;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">likely to have a significant adverse effect on the supply, distribution or use of energy or is designated by the&nbsp;</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Administrator of</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> OMB</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">/OIRA as a significant energy action.</span></b></font></li></ul><p source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" web="Web" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" text-align="text-align" start="start" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(27, 27, 27);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For significant energy actions, the federal agency must prepare a Statement of Energy Effects&nbsp;</span>and submit the Statement to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 94, 162); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);">Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)</a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 94, 162); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);">Office of Management and Budget (OMB)</a>. The Statement, or a summary, must be included in the proposed and final rulemaking notices published by the agency. A Statement of Energy Effects includes information on any adverse effects on energy supply, distribution, or use, and reasonable alternatives to the action along with the expected effects of such alternatives on energy supply, distribution, or use.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span source="Source" sans="Sans" pro="Pro" web="Web" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" roboto="Roboto" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="color: rgb(27, 27, 27);">vs biden<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55829189" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">:&nbsp;</a></span><span style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55829189" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55829189</a></span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">---</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/is-the-republican-party-over/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/is-the-republican-party-over/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...[rats from ship egs]</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And yet another story from the day: a third career prosecutor from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2020-10-14/william-barr-department-of-justice-doj" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Department of Justice</a>&nbsp;resigned after publicly attacking Attorney General William Barr for abusing his power to get Trump reelected.&nbsp;</b>"After 36 years, I'm fleeing what was the U.S. Department of Justice," Phillip Halpern wrote. "[T]he department's past leaders were dedicated to the rule of law and the guiding principle that justice is blind. That is a bygone era, but it should not be forgotten." Noting that "Barr has never actually investigated, charged or tried a case," Halpern expressed deep concern over Barr's "slavish obedience to Donald Trump's will." "This career bureaucrat seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy," he warned.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler, who worked as a federal prosecutor under Barr when he was George H. W. Bush's Attorney General, told Katie Benner of the&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>&nbsp;that such criticism is "unprecedented," and reflects Trump's pressure on the AG.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/us/politics/justice-department-barr-prosecutors.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"I have never seen sitting prosecutors go on the record with concerns about the attorney general</a>," he said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And yet, Barr's willingness to bend the Justice Department to Trump's personal will may, in the end, not be enough to keep Trump's favor. Angry that Barr did not produce a report attacking the Russia investigation before the election,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/politics/donald-trump-bill-barr-attorney-general/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump just yesterday said he wasn't happy with Barr's performance</a>, and might not keep him on as AG if he wins a second term.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>There are signs people in the administration are preparing for Trump to lose the election. His cabinet is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/us/politics/regulatory-rush-federal-agencies-trump.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">rushing to change regulations</a>&nbsp;to lock in Trump's goal of giving more scope to businessmen to act as they see fit.</b>&nbsp;Normally, changes in regulations require setting aside time for public comment on the changes, but the administration is&nbsp;<b>shortening or eliminating those periods over changes in, for example, rules allowing railroads to move highly flammable liquefied natural gas on freight trains, what constitutes "contract" work, how much pollution factories can emit, and who can immigrate to America</b>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">said in a statement: "President Trump has worked quickly from the beginning of his term to grow the economy by<b> removing the mountain of Obama-Biden job-killing regulations," and that the current push simply continues that effort. But no one is missing the quiet distancing going on in Washington as Republican lawmakers are shifting away from public support for the president.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, at his rally tonight in Georgia, Trump told the crowd "You should… lock up the Bidens, lock up Hillary." The crowd then began to chant "Lock them up." But one thing about a bully: when people finally start to turn on him, there is a stampede for the exits.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tonight, at his Georgia rally, Trump outlined all the ways in which he was being unfairly treated, then mused: "Could you imagine if I lose?… I'm not going to feel so good.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/16/us/trump-biden-town-halls#if-he-loses-the-election-trump-mused-friday-maybe-ill-have-to-leave-the-country" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Maybe I'll have to leave the country, I don't know."</a></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html</font></a></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">toxic 10 epa rollbacks ewg</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2647067465" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the beginning, the Trump administration has aggressively slashed environmental regulations. A New York Times analysis identified&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">100 environmental protections</a>&nbsp;that have been reversed or are in the process of getting rolled back.&nbsp;<b>The administration's record on chemical safety has been especially hazardous for the health of Americans,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/02/report-after-three-years-trump-kids-are-not-alright" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">especially children</a>.</b></font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2018/01/trump-s-toxic-wake-8-ways-president-made-chemicals-less-safe-2017" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">One year into President Trump's term,</a>&nbsp;EWG detailed how the Trump administration has stacked the Environmental Protection Agency with industry lawyers and lobbyists, undermined worker safety and cooked the books on chemical safety assessments.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/05/13-ways-pruitt-s-epa-has-made-your-life-more-toxic" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Midway through his second year,</a>&nbsp;we reported how the EPA reversed a ban on a brain-damaging pesticide, delayed chemical bans and killed a rule to protect kids from toxic PCBs in schools.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/08/10-ways-trump-has-undermined-chemical-safety" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Last year,</a>&nbsp;we reported that the EPA had rescinded safety rules at chemical plants, rubber-stamped untested new chemicals and silenced researchers.</span></font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Trump's first term nears its end, things are even worse. Here are 10 more ways the Trump administration has continued to make life more toxic for Americans.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="1-failed-to-aggressively-regulate-toxic-forever-chemicals" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Failed to Aggressively Regulate Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS contaminate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">more than 2,200 sites</a>&nbsp;across the nation. Because they never break down in the environment, PFAS are often called "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-toxic-chemicals-are-everywhere-and-they-wont-ever-go-away/2018/01/02/82e7e48a-e4ee-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">forever chemicals</a>."&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">They build up in our bodies and are&nbsp;<b>linked to cancer</b>, reproductive and developmental harms and reduced effectiveness of vaccines</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Even though the EPA has known about the risks from PFAS chemicals&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ewg.org/epa-pfas-timeline/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">since at least 1998</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, they remain virtually unregulated.</span></font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February 2019, the EPA released a toothless PFAS "action plan" that lacked deadlines for action and failed to address the use of PFAS in everyday products, contamination from PFAS air emissions or disposal of PFAS waste, among other concerns. A year and a half later, key goals from the plan, including regulating PFAS under the Superfund law and setting drinking water standards, remain unfulfilled.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Congress stepped in and sought to designate PFOA and PFOS – the two most notorious and well-studied PFAS – as "hazardous substances" and to set deadlines for agency action, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SAP_HR-535.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">threatened a veto</a>. Trump's EPA also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/27/2020-13738/long-chain-perfluoroalkyl-carboxylate-and-perfluoroalkyl-sulfonate-chemical-substances-significant" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">weakened a rule</a>&nbsp;designed to regulate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/06/final-decision-epa-fails-protect-public-toxic-forever-chemicals-consumer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">PFAS in consumer products</a>.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="2-allowed-a-rocket-fuel-chemical-to-stay-in-drinking-water" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Allowed a Rocket Fuel Chemical to Stay in Drinking Water</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perchlorate is a component of rocket fuel that also frequently contaminates drinking water sources. Perchlorate can interfere with thyroid function, which can also harm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2017/11/kids-still-risk-rocket-fuel-chemical-food-and-water" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">childhood brain development</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-02-11/html/2011-2603.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Almost a decade ago,</a>&nbsp;the EPA determined that these harms warranted regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency then dragged its feet for years. In 2016, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2016/160218" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Natural Resources Defense Council sued</a>&nbsp;to force the EPA to finally set a legal limit for perchlorate in drinking water. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freshlawblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2016/12/Doc-38-Consent-Decree.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">court-approved consent decree</a>, the EPA agreed to propose a standard by October 2018 and finalize it by 2019. However, the EPA sought extensions and failed to meet these deadlines.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/26/2019-12773/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations-perchlorate" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA finally proposed a drinking water standard</a>&nbsp;in June 2019 but also suggested that it might not regulate perchlorate after all.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/21/2020-13462/drinking-water-final-action-on-perchlorate" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A year later,&nbsp;</a>the EPA withdrew its decision to regulate perchlorate in drinking water.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="3-allowed-scores-of-new-chemicals-including-new-toxic-pfas-onto-the-market-without-adequate-oversight" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Allowed Scores of New Chemicals, Including New Toxic PFAS, Onto the Market Without Adequate Oversight</font></h3><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016, Congress substantially changed the way new chemicals are approved under the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/05/new-tsca-bill-falls-short-protecting-americans-toxic-chemicals#.WwLUddMvwWo" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Toxic Substances Control Act</a>, or TSCA.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the old law, chemicals were frequently approved by default, often&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/off-the-books-ii-more-secret-chemicals/new-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">without any health and safety information</a>. As a result, unsafe chemicals were allowed to be used for years or decades before the health and environmental hazards came to light. Inadequate oversight of new chemicals can also lead to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/harmful-chemicals-removed-from-products-often-replaced-with-something-as-bad-or-worse/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">regrettable substitution</a>&nbsp;– when chemicals are finally found to be unsafe, they are often replaced by unstudied chemicals that may be just as or even more toxic.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The 2016 update was supposed to fix the new chemicals program by requiring the EPA to make an affirmative safety finding on new chemicals and restrict use if industry failed to provide sufficient safety data.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Nonetheless, the Trump EPA has approved scores of new chemicals in a process that&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/12/09/when-will-epa-fully-explain-and-legally-justify-its-reviews-of-new-chemicals-under-tsca/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">lacks transparency</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/20200317_comms_pc_tsca_english_final.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">contravenes the 2016 law</a>.<b>&nbsp;The EPA has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2018/09/05/trumps-epa-flouting-law-when-approving-new-chemicals-here-are-3-examples" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">ignored known health concerns</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/02/21/the-trump-epa-is-throwing-workers-facing-risks-from-new-tsca-chemicals-under-the-bus/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">limited its consideration of worker risks</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/06/03/the-trump-epa-is-illegally-denying-requests-for-public-files-on-new-chemicals/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">denied requests for public files</a>&nbsp;in the new chemicals program.</b></span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The EPA has also exploited loopholes in the new law to quickly approve new chemicals, including toxic PFAS.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2020/07/28/greasing-the-skids-the-trump-epa-is-green-lighting-dozens-of-new-pfas-under-tsca/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A recent investigation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;found that the EPA has been quietly approving new PFAS chemicals, through a provision known as the low volume exemption in the new chemicals program. As a result, the EPA is greenlighting new PFAS chemicals on an expedited basis, without public scrutiny. One PFAS,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2020/01/27/what-connects-cross-country-skiing-and-chemical-safety/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">used in ski wax</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, was approved despite a finding that the chemical could "waterproof the lungs," resulting in severe health impacts.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since the law was updated in 2016, the EPA has reviewed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/statistics-new-chemicals-review" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">3,000 new chemicals</a>&nbsp;submissions. More than 1,000 of these chemicals have been approved through the low volume exemption, and since 2016, manufacturers have begun producing at least 900 new chemicals, many without adequate safety data. Environmental groups have&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/final_filed_complaint.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">sued the EPA</a>&nbsp;over its failures to protect the public and the environment from risks from new chemicals.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="4-failed-to-protect-workers-from-a-deadly-paint-stripping-chemical" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Failed to Protect Workers From a Deadly Paint-Stripping Chemical</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Methylene chloride is a highly toxic chemical used in paint strippers that is responsible for&nbsp;<a href="https://saferchemicals.org/us-deaths-from-methylene-chloride/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">more than 60 deaths</a>&nbsp;since 1980. In the final days of the Obama administration, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0231-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA proposed a ban</a>&nbsp;on "methylene chloride for consumer and most types of commercial paint and coating removal."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After significant pressure from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-reconsiders-ban-on-potentially-lethal-paint-stripper-chemical-methylene-chloride/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">families who lost loved ones</a>&nbsp;due to methylene chloride exposure, the Trump EPA eventually issued a final rule in 2019. However, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-bans-consumer-sales-methylene-chloride-paint-removers-protecting-public" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA narrowed the rule</a>&nbsp;so that it would apply only to consumer<em>&nbsp;uses</em>&nbsp;of methylene chloride, not commercial uses. That means workers are not protected, even though a&nbsp;<a href="https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/workers-rights/epa-restricts-sales-of-deadly-paint-strippers-after-years-of-delays/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Center for Public Integrity investigation</a>&nbsp;found that most deaths from methylene chloride take place at work.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/final-risk-evaluation-methylene-chloride" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">separate EPA evaluation</a>&nbsp;of methylene chloride found that manufacturing, disposal and several other uses of methylene chloride pose no "unreasonable risk." Environmental groups have filed lawsuits challenging&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/trump-s-epa-sued-for-leaving-workers-exposed-to-deadly-chemical-in-paint-strippers" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the rule</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/trumps-epa-sued-over-understating-risks-of-deadly-chemical" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">recent evaluation</a>.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="5-cooked-the-books-on-the-civil-action-chemical" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. Cooked the Books on the “Civil Action” Chemical</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trichloroethylene is a chemical solvent made infamous by the book and movie "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3PHjIly2N0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A Civil Action</a>." The EPA considers it to be a&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">known carcinogen,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;and it is one of the primary contaminants that sickened scores of veterans who served at&nbsp;</span><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/what-happened-at-camp-lejeune" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Camp Lejeune</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, in North Carolina.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As with methylene chloride, in the final days of the Obama administration, the EPA proposed banning three uses of TCE:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0163-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">spot cleaning, aerosol degreasing</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0387-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">vapor degreasing</a>. In December 2017, the Trump EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-epa-indefinitely-delays-bans-deadly-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">shelved these proposed bans</a>, claiming that it would study those uses in a separate ongoing risk evaluation of TCE.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">However, the EPA dramatically rewrote the accepted science on</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;TCE&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-trichloroethylene" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">draft risk evaluation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;released in February. As&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/06/industry-s-behest-epa-caves-banning-civil-action-carcinogen-lays-ground" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EWG warned</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in 2018, the solvents industry aggressively lobbied the EPA to ignore a key&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241384/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">2003 study</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;finding that TCE causes heart deformities in developing fetuses. TCE's connection with fetal heart defects was an important basis for the Obama EPA's decision to ban three uses of TCE. An&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623816303240#bib0190" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">independent review</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;of the EPA's science found that "prenatal exposure to TCE can cause human cardiac defects" and that the study "remains a valid choice" for assessing risk.</span></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The lobbyists succeeded. The EPA's draft risk evaluation questioned the study's design and minimized its significance. An&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/epa-scientists-found-a-toxic-chemical-damages-fetal-hearts-the-trump-white-house-rewrote-their-assessment/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">investigation by Reveal News</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;compared the draft risk evaluation with a leaked earlier draft. It found that the earlier draft had relied extensively on the 2003 study and used it as a benchmark for the risk calculations. Reveal also reported that then</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">-EPA chemicals safety chief Nancy Beck – "<a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the scariest Trump appointee you've never heard of</a>"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></p><p style=""><a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard</font></a></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">– ordered that the risk evaluation be rewritten to downplay the risks of TCE. With the EPA giving significantly less weight to risks from fetal heart deformities, it's unlikely the agency will finalize the proposed bans.</span></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem6" data-id="6" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6" data-basename="6-pressured-epa-scientists-to-drop-evaluations-of-toxic-chemicals-including-formaldehyde" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">6. Pressured EPA Scientists to Drop Evaluations of Toxic Chemicals – Including&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Formaldehyde</span></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump EPA is undermining the work of independent scientists within the Integrated Risk Information System program, known as IRIS. The program's work is supposed to be impartial and non-political. Its scientific assessments are intended to support the work of other EPA program offices and regional offices. IRIS is a&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/03/epa-iris-toxic-chemicals/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">frequent target of chemical industry attacks</a>&nbsp;because its independent safety assessments often don't align with industry objectives.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2018, the Trump EPA tried to&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3534381/Combined.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">defund</a>&nbsp;the IRIS program</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. EPA leadership also pressured IRIS to drop critical health assessments. I</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">n March 2019,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/697212.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">a Government Accountability Office report</a>&nbsp;disclosed that EPA leadership directed agency offices to limit the number of chemicals they wanted IRIS to review, and cut in half the number of IRIS's ongoing or upcoming assessments.</span></font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the halted assessments was IRIS's decades-long review of formaldehyde, a widely used chemical and&nbsp;<a href="https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/formaldehyde.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">known human carcinogen</a>. This is surprising because former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt indicated to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January 2018 that the report was complete and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Pruitt%20Letter%20formaldehyde%20assessment.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">ready for release</a>. However, answering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2019/01/29/document_pm_02.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">questions for the record</a>&nbsp;following a 2019 Senate hearing, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said formaldehyde was "not a top priority."</font></span></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Instead of releasing the IRIS study on formaldehyde to the public, the EPA has instead decided that the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention – under the leadership of </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Nancy Beck – should&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-list-next-20-chemicals-undergo-risk-evaluation-under-tsca" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">conduct its own assessment</a>&nbsp;of formaldehyde.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> As with TCE, this action will give the agency an opportunity to distort the science and minimize risks. Because these reviews take years, it will also significantly delay any EPA regulatory action on formaldehyde.</span></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem7" data-id="7" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7" data-basename="7-rolled-back-clean-water-protections" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7. Rolled Back Clean Water Protections</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Industrial chemical pollutants are often discharged into drinking water supplies</b>. But the Trump administration has made it a priority to roll back the<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/06/29/2015-13435/clean-water-rule-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">&nbsp;Clean Water Rule,</a>&nbsp;which more clearly defined which kinds of bodies of water are subject to the Clean Water Act. EWG's analysis found that the Clean Water Rule, if implemented as proposed by the Obama administration, would have protected drinking water sources for more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/trump-plan-gut-stream-protections-imperils-tap-water-117-million-americans" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">117 million Americans</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/31/politics/epa-science-board/index.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA's own science advisors</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;have opposed the rollback of the Clean Water Rule, but the Trump administration&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-completes-repeal-clean-water-rule-imperiling-drinking-water-sources-117m-people" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">repealed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;it in 2019,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-administration-finalizes-repeal-pollution-rule-threatening-drinking-water-sources-117" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">proposed its own rule</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in January and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/21/2020-02500/the-navigable-waters-protection-rule-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">finalized it</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in April. The new rule covers far fewer bodies of water and would leave 234,000 miles of small streams unprotected</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">. EWG estimates that at least 72 million Americans draw at least half their drinking water from small streams.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because of the repeal, those bodies of water will no longer be subject to pollution limits. Protection for small and seasonal streams and wetlands is important because they often flow into larger bodies of water, including sources of drinking water.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Polluted drinking water sources&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2017/03/17/judge-dismisses-water-works-nitrates-lawsuit/99327928/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">strain municipal water utilities</a>&nbsp;tasked with filtering out contaminants regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and risk exposing the public to more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/state-of-american-drinking-water.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">contaminants that aren't regulated</a>&nbsp;under the act.</span></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem8" data-id="8" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=8#rebelltitem8" data-basename="8-cooked-the-books-on-asbestos" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8. Cooked the Books on Asbestos</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Asbestos is a highly toxic, naturally occurring&nbsp;<b>chemical linked to a particularly deadly form of cancer called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mesothelioma/symptoms-causes/syc-20375022" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">mesothelioma</a>.&nbsp;</b>An estimated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=Jukka%20Takala&orcid=0000-0001-5722-7052" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">40,000 Americans</a>&nbsp;die every year from asbestos-related diseas</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">es. Although the toxicity of asbestos is well understood, the EPA has never actually banned most uses. The EPA attempted a ban in 1989, but most of the rule was overturned by&nbsp;</span><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6165892895625819539&q=corrosion+proof+fittings+v+epa&hl=en&as_sdt=20006" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991.</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Congress reformed TSCA in 2016, the EPA announced that asbestos would be one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/under-new-safety-law-epa-picks-first-10-chemicals-review" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">first 10 chemicals</a>&nbsp;reviewed under the new law. Many hoped that this time, the EPA would finally ban asbestos.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, when the EPA released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-asbestos" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">draft risk evaluation</a>&nbsp;in May, it found that several uses of asbestos, including import of asbestos and asbestos-containing products and distribution of asbestos-containing products, did not pose an unreasonable risk. The EPA made its risk determinations by ignoring exposure from "legacy" uses of asbestos, such as old insulation and building tiles. Although in November the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/court-trump-epa-acted-unlawfully-refusing-consider-legacy-use-asbestos-lead" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;ordered the EPA to fix this error, it has yet to do so.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead of banning asbestos, in April 2019 the EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/04/25/2019-08154/restrictions-on-discontinued-uses-of-asbestos-significant-new-use-rule" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">published a rule</a>&nbsp;requiring notice and approval before manufacturers could resume using it in some applications the agency considered abandoned. However,&nbsp;<a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/815-e-p-a-memos-on-asbestos/12c87a96be998db10048/optimized/full.pdf#page=1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">leaked documents</a>&nbsp;show that more than a dozen EPA staffers urged an outright ban on asbestos instead.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem9" data-id="9" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=9#rebelltitem9" data-basename="9-proposed-a-loophole-for-toxic-air-pollution" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9. Proposed a Loophole for Toxic Air Pollution</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In July 2019, the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/26/2019-14252/reclassification-of-major-sources-as-area-sources-under-section-112-of-the-clean-air-act" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Trump EPA proposed to reverse</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;a longstanding policy requiring large power plants, refineries and other industrial polluters to always meet certain strict controls, even after reducing emissions.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The new rule creates a loophole in the Clean Air Act regulations that would allow large industrial facilities to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-02/documents/reclassification_of_major_sources_as_area_sources_under_section_112_of_the_clean_air_act.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">reclassify themselves</a>, from "major sources" of air pollution to "area sources."</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That change would allow them to opt out of strict pollution control standards, called "maximum achievable control technology," and substantially increase their emissions of dangerous air pollutants. EPA's own data shows that more than&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-07-26/pdf/2019-14252.pdf" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">3,900 large facilities</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;that&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.epa.gov/haps/initial-list-hazardous-air-pollutants-modifications" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">emit pollutants like mercury and&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">benzene</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">could take advantage of this loophole.&nbsp;</span><a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2020/02/19/epa-data-emphasizes-danger-of-trump-administrations-air-toxics-loophole/?conversion_pg=www.momscleanairforce.org%2Fthe-racism-of-the-epa-agenda%2F" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">The Environmental Defense Fund</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;estimates the loophole could increase toxic air emissions by as much as 480 percent, or almost 50 million pounds per year.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This rollback is especially alarming in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. Studies have found that people who live in areas with&nbsp;<a href="https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2020/07/17/why-air-pollution-is-linked-to-severe-cases-of-covid-19/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">high levels of air pollution</a>&nbsp;are at greater risk for severe cases of COVID-19.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem10" data-id="10" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=10#rebelltitem10" data-basename="10-continuing-its-quest-to-censor-science" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10. Continuing Its Quest to Censor Science</font></h3><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2018, the EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/04/30/2018-09078/strengthening-transparency-in-regulatory-science" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">proposed a disastrous rule</a>&nbsp;significantly limiting the kinds of science the agency can rely on to justify environmental regulations. The rule would have prohibited the agency from using studies that don't make their underlying data publicly available or whose results can't be replicated. That change would prevent the EPA from including in its future risk assessments most&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/scientific-medical-academic-groups-urge-epa-drop-transparency-rule" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">human health studies</a>, because personal medical data must remain confidential. The rule would undermine studies that are foundational to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/climate/epa-science-trump.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">clean air regulations</a>.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal sparked enormous opposition from scientists, academics and environmental health advocates. More than 600,000 public comments were submitted to the agency, the vast majority in opposition. In September 2019, the EPA dropped the proposal from its regulatory agenda.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the Trump EPA is at it again. In March, the agency issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-03/documents/supplemental_notice_of_strengthening_transparency_in_regulatory_science.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">supplemental proposal</a>&nbsp;that is actually&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/testimony-official-correspondence/ewg-comments-epa-strengthening-transparency-regulatory-science" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">worse than</a>&nbsp;the original proposal. The 2018 proposal applied to all "dose response" studies, but the new proposal applies to all studies. The new proposal also applies retroactively, which means the EPA could use it to gut existing regulations.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As these actions – and dozens of others – show, the Trump EPA has aggressively worked to erode and eliminate vital environmental and public health protections. The public needs an EPA that will prioritize people and planet over polluters and profit.</font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><p class="print-title"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></span></p></div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">wa exmr</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">demint endorse;&nbsp;</font><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">l:&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Derek Kan</span><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, the executive associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been nominated as the agency’s deputy director. He will be under&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Russ Vought</span><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, who moved up from deputy to director. For the past few months, Kan, a recent undersecretary for policy at the Transportation Department, has been overseeing the distribution of coronavirus funds and other key budget items. He has a reputation for bipartisanship, has worked for several GOP leaders, and has a high-tech background.&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Grover Norquist</span><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, president of Americans for Tax Reform, praised Kan as “smart, competent, politically savvy, a serious economic thinker who should have been running things over at the White House several years ago.” …</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trumps-epa-moves-jettison-any-regulation-of-a-chemical-linked-to-child-brain-damage-report/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trumps-epa-moves-jettison-any-regulation-of-a-chemical-linked-to-child-brain-damage-report/</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>trump’s EPA moves jettison any regulation of a chemical linked to child brain damage: report</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[ June 3, 2019: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks at the National Press Club.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams May 15, 2020</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Environmental campaigners vowed to fight President Donald&nbsp;<b>Trump’s EPA Thursday after the agency said it would propose that the rocket-fuel chemical perchlorate does not need to be regulated, despite its links to cognitive damage in fetal and child development.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the New York Times, the </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b style="">EPA plans to tell the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that it is “not in the public interest” to regulate the chemical at all,</b>&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">a year after the agency recommended the allowable amount in drinking water be limited to 56 parts per billion (ppb).</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The 2019 proposal was already 10 to 50 times higher than what water safety experts recommend, the Times reported</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The new recommendation defies a court order, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said, which was issued in 2018 after the group sued over the Obama administration’s inaction on regulating perchlorate....</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/midnight-revelation-the-omb-has-been-withholding-emails-that-explicitly-show-trumps-motives-on-ukraine/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Midnight revelation: The OMB has been withholding emails that explicitly show Trump’s motives on Ukraine</font></a></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/mark-sumner/" title="Posts by Mark Sumner" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Mark Sumner</a>&nbsp;/&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">February 2, 2020</span></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A midnight court filing on Friday night&nbsp;revealed that the White House is refusing to release at least two dozen emails directly related to Donald Trump’s withholding of military assistance from…</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/trump-continues-his-attack-on-working-people-by-moving-to-redefine-poverty-and-slash-social-programs-for-millions"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/trump-continues-his-attack-on-working-people-by-moving-to-redefine-poverty-and-slash-social-programs-for-millions</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Julia Conley / Common Dreams<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>May 8, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration on Monday moved to change the definition of “poverty” in the United States in a proposal which combines the president’s attempts to portray the U.S. economy as…</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration on Monday moved to change the definition of “poverty” in the United States in a proposal which combines the president’s attempts to portray the U.S. economy as strong with his repeated attacks on the working poor and their access to government services.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a regulatory filing, President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) wrote that it may change how inflation is calculated in order to reduce the number of Americans who are living below the federally-recognized poverty line and are therefore eligible for certain government support services and social programs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Melissa Boteach, who oversees income security programs at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), wrote on Twitter, the change “seems technical, but it’s actually a big attack on working people.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;· May 6, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replying to @mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remember last year when the Trump admin declared that “our War on Poverty is largely over and a success”?&nbsp; https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Expanding-Work-Requirements-in-Non-Cash-Welfare-Programs.pdf ….&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now he’s acting on this bogus notion, trying to slowly define people out of poverty by decree. 2/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seems technical, but it’s actually a big attack on working people. In short, Trump wants to weaken how our poverty definition keeps pace with cost of living. So each year, as costs go up, many working people w/low pay would gradually be stripped of WIC, Medicaid & other basics 3/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5:27 PM - May 6, 2019 · Washington, DC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See Melissa Boteach's other Tweets</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the administration’s proposal, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, the government would shift to a system known as “Chained CPI,” which assumes consumers will change what they buy as items grow more expensive through inflation, suggesting that they are not struggling to afford necessities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The definitional change would result in a slower inflation rate, which is used to determine how many Americans are eligible for programs like Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and other federal assistance.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of 2018, a family of four making $25,900 per year was considered to be living in poverty, based on the necessities they could afford with the current inflation rate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the new system, OMB officials wrote in the proposal, “changes to the poverty thresholds, including how they are updated for inflation over time, may affect eligibility for programs that use the poverty guidelines.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boteach wrote that the proposal demonstrates “how out of touch Trump is with lives of working-class people,” noting that even the current poverty line does little to reflect the amount of money an American family actually needs to live comfortably in the wealthiest country on the planet.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, wrote Boteach, the new standards will make the government’s understanding of poverty and inequality even less accurate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;· May 6, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replying to @mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seems technical, but it’s actually a big attack on working people. In short, Trump wants to weaken how our poverty definition keeps pace with cost of living. So each year, as costs go up, many working people w/low pay would gradually be stripped of WIC, Medicaid & other basics 3/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This proposal shows how out of touch Trump is with lives of working-class ppl. “Americans on average&nbsp; report that it would take more than $55,000 in annual income to be considered out of poverty.” That’s more than TWICE our current threshold https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/reports/2014/01/07/81702/50-years-after-lbjs-war-on-poverty/ …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5:29 PM - May 6, 2019 · Washington, DC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">50 Years After LBJ’s War on Poverty - Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A major new study of public attitudes about poverty, work, and economic opportunity reveals that many Americans remain in economic hardship and desire new efforts to provide low-income families with...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">americanprogress.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">15 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;· May 6, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replying to @mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sadly, even w/low unemployment, poverty & hardship are still a mainstay in American life. And guess what? Unilaterally redefining it doesn’t do a damn thing to help someone secure a better job, put food on the table, or pay critical health care bills.6/ https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/reports/2018/03/07/447412/ensuring-basic-living-standards/ …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melissa Boteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@mboteach</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a cynical attempt to squeeze working-class people. Their incomes will STILL be too low to make ends meet, but Trump’s decree would make it harder for them to qualify for help. 7/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5:40 PM - May 6, 2019 · Washington, DC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See Melissa Boteach's other Tweets</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some critics on social media denounced the proposal as Trump’s latest “cruel” measure aimed at weakening the systems meant to support the poorest Americans and struggling working class families.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Roberts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@drvox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Trump is going to change how poverty is measured, with the intent of rendering a bunch of people ineligible for social assistance. His base will support this arbitrary cruelty b/c even though it hurts them, it also hurts brown people. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-06/trump-poverty-line-inflation …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">133</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12:15 PM - May 6, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump May Redefine Poverty, Cutting Americans From Welfare Rolls</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration may alter the way it determines the national poverty threshold, putting Americans living on the margins at risk of losing access to welfare programs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomberg.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">79 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democratic Coalition</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@TheDemCoalition</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;This appears to be the latest cruel and incompetent effort by the Trump administration to make it harder to access welfare programs.#ShitholePresidenthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-06/trump-poverty-line-inflation …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">243</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12:53 PM - May 6, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump May Redefine Poverty, Cutting Americans From Welfare Rolls</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration may alter the way it determines the national poverty threshold, putting Americans living on the margins at risk of losing access to welfare programs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomberg.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">358 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Krugman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@paulkrugman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;For the moment, Republicans have mostly stopped pretending to care about deficits. But they're still eager to cut aid to the poor 1/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-06/trump-poverty-line-inflation …</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1,691</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5:32 AM - May 7, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump May Redefine Poverty, Cutting Americans From Welfare Rolls</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration may alter the way it determines the national poverty threshold, putting Americans living on the margins at risk of losing access to welfare programs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomberg.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">862 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The OMB’s proposal follows multiple attacks on social welfare programs by the Trump administration as it attempts to keep families from accessing SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, and Medicaid. The administration and the Republican Party have pushed in 2018 to require people who use food stamps to work at least 20 hours per week, a move which would push at least one million Americans out of the program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The federal budget proposal unveiled in March also included more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, threatening the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The administration has spent much of the last two years insisting that the American economy is thriving—frequently pointing to the GDP, the stock market, and low unemployment rates as evidence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But studies have shown that low unemployment numbers offer a misleading picture of how American families are actually coping in the economy, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not count “600,000 ‘discouraged workers’ who say they are no longer looking because they don’t think they can find a job,” according to Quartz.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics have pointed out that 40 percent of families are unable to save enough moneyto pay for a $400 emergency; 137 million American households struggle to pay healthcare costs; and nearly 80 percent of workers live paycheck-to-paycheck—regardless of the GDP or the stock market.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The OMB’s proposal, wrote Georgetown University and public policy researcher Joan Alker, is “a novel way to take healthcare, etc., away from people AND make it look like there are fewer poor people.”...</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25042019/trump-omb-secret-science-policy-memo-pollution-health-studies-heritage-foundation-vought"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25042019/trump-omb-secret-science-policy-memo-pollution-health-studies-heritage-foundation-vought</font></a></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Donald Trump's administration has launched yet another attempt to

control the use of science in federal policymaking—this time with a

memorandum to government agencies from the White House budget office.</b>

</font></font><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The<b> <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/M-19-15.pdf">memo</a><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/memoranda/">,</a>

quietly released on Wednesday, appears aimed at putting into effect

some long-sought goals of industry foes of environmental regulations.</b></font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Described as "guidance" for executive branch agencies, it offers

numerous new avenues for regulated industries to challenge the science

used in policymaking</b>. The memo was signed by <b>Russell Vought, a former

top official at the political arm of the conservative Heritage

Foundation who is now acting director of the White House Office of

Management and Budget (OMB).</b></font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Observers say the OMB is seeking to implement by fiat restrictions on

environmental and health science that have failed to garner support in

Congress and have foundered in a formal rulemaking <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations">process</a> begun last year by the Environmental Protection Agency.</font></span></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's been no consultation with the scientific community, no

opportunity to comment, no analysis on the costs or impacts," said <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/andrew-rosenberg/four-ways-white-house-is-trying-to-restrict-science">Andrew Rosenberg</a>, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</font><div class="content"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">

<p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vought's memo, titled "Improving Implementation of the Information

Quality Act," sets out new guidance for all federal agencies on

identifying and using "influential scientific, financial, or statistical

information."</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It says that such data should be held to higher standards than other

information, with a more in-depth peer review required</b>. That review

should evaluate "the objectivity of the underlying data and the

sensitivity of the agency's conclusions to analytic assumptions," with

additional peer review required in some circumstances.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Data of this kind, such as health surveys, are often used to support

controls on pollutants</b>, including those like smog and soot that come

from burning fossil fuels. The guidance could also affect how limits on

greenhouse gas emissions are devised.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vought writes that influential analysis must be disseminated to the

public "with sufficient descriptions of data and methods to allow them

to be reproduced by qualified third parties who may want to test the

sensitivity of agency analyses."</font></p>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Echoes of EPA's 'Secret Science' Effort</font></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The OMB memo appears aimed at achieving the same goals as EPA's proposal last year, the so-called <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15082018/epa-secret-science-rule-opposition-health-environmental-data-public-comments">"Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science" rule,</a>

which sought to prevent the EPA from relying on public health studies

where the raw data had not been made public due to confidentiality

concerns. It mirrored legislation sponsored by <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05122017/lamar-smith-congress-climate-change-fossil-fuel-industry-house-science-committee">former Rep. Lamar Smith</a>

(R-Texas), then chairman of the House Science Committee, that was

passed by the House of Representatives three times but never been taken

up by the Senate</span>.</font>

<b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under the guise of transparency, </span>the EPA rule would have excluded

from environmental policymaking some of the seminal studies linking air

pollution to increased mortality.</font></b>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA received more than 500,000 public comments on the transparency proposal, including an extraordinary outpouring of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15082018/epa-secret-science-rule-opposition-health-environmental-data-public-comments">opposition from the scientific community</a>—including

the presidents of the National Academies of Sciences</b>, Engineering and

Medicine; the leaders of physicians' groups like the American Academy of

Pediatrics; health organizations like the American Lung Association;

and the editors of major scientific journals.</font></span></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font></span><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No further public action has occurred on the rule since the comment

period closed last August. An EPA spokesperson said in an email that the

agency "is considering the new OMB memorandum as we move forward with

the 'Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science' rulemaking."</font></span></p>

<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'It's About Delay'</font></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not clear exactly what impact the OMB guidance will have—in

part because this kind of guidance doesn't have the force and effect of

law. (In other words, the requirements and deadlines of environmental

statutes would weigh more heavily before a judge.) Also, Vought does not

specify what the EPA or other agencies are to do about influential

scientific studies that do not meet the new requirements. But Rosenberg

said it appears to offer the regulated industry new avenues to challenge

actions that rely on science.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's about delay," said Rosenberg. "Every piece of this allows

industry to make a claim that will delay the process of regulations.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It essentially says that anyone—mostly industry—can challenge the

data or technical information, and the agency then has to develop a

response to every challenge, and then the person who challenged the data

can appeal, and you have to go through this cycle again, apparently

endlessly."</font>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Vought, known as a conservative firebrand who served as an aide to

Vice President Mike Pence</b> when Pence was a member of Congress, played a

key role in the budget controversies that engulfed the White House early

this year. He reportedly designed Trump's initial proposal for border

wall funding and led the decision to continue processing tax refunds

during the government shutdown.</font></span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vought's memo on information quality portrays the new guidance as a

good government measure. "Prudent decision making depends on reliable,

high-quality information," Vought wrote. "Congress has long recognized

that federal agencies should make decisions using the best data

reasonably available, and Congress has entrusted OMB with the statutory

role of ensuring that federal agencies collect, use, and disseminate

information that is fit for its intended purpose."</font></span></p></div>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="tagged-with">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><label>Published Under:</label>

</font><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">

<div class="field-items">

<div class="field-item even"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/regulation">Regulation</a></font></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/climate-science">Climate Science</a></font></div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden">

<div class="field-items">

<div class="field-item even"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a></font></div>

</div>

</div>

</div></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg change how rules ar made</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">swamp thing, inside the wire</span></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-nancy-beck-chemical-safety-2389388927.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-nancy-beck-chemical-safety-2389388927.html</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;&nbsp;By Melanie Benesh</font></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Trump administration</a>&nbsp;just appointed a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/04/trump-just-put-chemical-industy-hack-charge-assessing-chemicals-epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">chemical industry bigwig</a>&nbsp;to a high-level chemical safety position at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">EPA</a>) as deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>You read that right. Nancy Beck is coming to the EPA straight from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the powerful lobby whose members include Dow Chemical, DuPont,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/monsanto" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Monsanto</a>, ExxonMobil Chemical, Chevron Phillips Chemical and Bayer.&nbsp;</b>Now she'll be making decisions as the deputy assistant administrator of the EPA department whose stated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-chemical-safety-and-pollution-prevention-ocspp" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">mission</a>&nbsp;is to "protect you, your family, and the environment from potential risks from pesticides and toxic chemicals."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's three things to know about Nancy Beck:</font></p><p /><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. She has helped craft the chemical industry's political agenda for years.</font></strong></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcus Peacock worked as a senior adviser to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for 2 1/2 months after Trump took office. Peacock, who had worked in George W. Bush’s administration as a senior official in both the OMB and the Environmental Protection Agency, helped guide Mulvaney through the Senate confirmation process and was instrumental in crafting the Trump administration’s executive order cutting two existing regulations for every new regulation.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcus Peacock</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A month before he left the Trump administration, Peacock requested an ethics waiver, arguing that he had “limited participation or influence on policies and decisions that would raise the types of concerns” the pledge seeks to avoid, according to a memo he sent to White House attorneys. Because his work on the executive order dealt with “process questions,” Peacock argued, it was not a specific policy action.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 6, 2017, two days before Peacock resigned, he received a special waiver. James Schultz, a senior associate counsel in the White House, concluded that Peacock had not “focused on specific regulations or policies.” Peacock left to become the executive vice president, the No. 2 position, at the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group for chief executives at U.S. companies.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The waiver reduced Peacock’s lobbying ban from five years to just six months. According to Senate lobbying records, Peacock is working with colleagues on federal budget process reforms, workforce development and immigration, international trade and changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul, among other things.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to questions, the Business Roundtable noted that Peacock served at OMB for just 77 days and that he voluntarily agreed not to have any lobbying contact with OMB for six months, “more than twice the amount of time he actually worked there.”</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peacock’s waiver has drawn the attention of officials with the Office of Government Ethics, who are reviewing waivers granted by the Trump administration. But the Business Roundtable says it has not been asked about Peacock’s waiver or lobbying.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We’re fully into Orwellian territory now.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.d7e716915ed4" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">The Washington Post’s Lena H. Sun and Juliet Eilperin reported</a>Friday evening that a group of CDC employees were told not to use seven words in official budget documents: “vulnerable,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “entitlement,” “diversity,”<b>&nbsp;“evidence-based,” and “science-based.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twenty-four hours later, Sun and Eilperin followed up by reporting that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/words-banned-at-multiple-hhs-agencies-include-diversity-and-vulnerable/2017/12/16/9fa09250-e29d-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?utm_term=.97c5eedd61c3" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">another HHS agency received similar guidance</a>&nbsp;about avoiding “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” and “diversity,” as well as instructions to use “Obamacare” instead of “Affordable Care Act.” Another linguistic substitution is visible at the State Department, where some documents now refer to “sexual risk avoidance” rather than “sex education.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a post at the Union of Concerned Scientists blog on Saturday morning,&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/is-cdc-banning-the-use-of-scientific-words-its-time-for-cdc-director-brenda-fitzgerald-to-speak-up" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Michael Halpern wrote</a>:</font></p><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/hurricane-harvey-trumps-weather-cuts-are-now-eye-storm">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/hurricane-harvey-trumps-weather-cuts-are-now-eye-storm</a></font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9/1/17</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">s Hurricane Harvey churned toward the Texas Gulf Coast last week, meteorologists, climate scientists and lay weather nerds on Twitter marveled at the crisp, detailed images of the storm sent to earth by a brand-new satellite. The nation’s first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-16, had been launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida 11 days after the November election, and has since transmitted high-resolution pictures of smoke from Canadian wildfires, of the August 21 North American eclipse and of a major fog event that spread out over the Midwest and Eastern U.S. But it’s been the images of hurricanes — Hilary, Gert and now Harvey — that have most mesmerized and thrilled weather forecasters, who for the first time have been able to see the storms develop from tropical wave to threatening hurricane almost in real time.</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>GOES-16&nbsp;</b>scans the earth every 15 minutes and tracks active storms at intervals as short as 30 seconds. It tracked Harvey as far back as August 17, when it was a tropical storm with 40 mile-per-hour winds approaching St. Lucia Island&nbsp;in the Caribbean.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This new satellite will save lives,” said Todd McNamara of the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/6uE0GuhYtPE" style="text-decoration-line: none;">NASA video</a>&nbsp;released last year.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">If President Trump’s&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">budget blueprint</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;for fiscal year 2018 passes muster in Congress, however, the agency behind GOES-16, the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, could be facing lean times. Weather satellites take years to design and build, weeks to successfully launch (GOES-16 was delayed when Hurricane Matthew skimmed the Florida coast last year), and a well-funded staff of scientists to interpret and distribute data.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;The satellite agency, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), already gets less than it asks for every fiscal year. Trump has proposed cutting its roughly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aip.org/fyi/2017/fy18-appropriations-bills-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$2 billion budget by 18 percent</a>.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A proposed budget in the U.S. House of Representatives would cut the satellite program even more steeply, by 23 percent, although the Senate budget only asks for a six percent reduction.&nbsp;<b>The White House Office of Management and Budget</b> insists the funding is enough to maintain the “current generation” of satellites.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the lack of commitment to the program reflects the administration’s ongoing hostility toward any science and research that might advance our knowledge of the earth’s climate — even when that research clearly saves lives. Here are four other ways that Trump’s priorities could make managing future disasters more difficult — and dangerous — in the U.S.</span></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/16/515578360/senate-narrowly-confirms-mulvaney-as-trumps-nominee-for-omb-director</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Mick Mulvaney, President Trump'</b>s pick to lead the White House's Office of Management and Budget, won a close confirmation vote in the full Senate on Thursday, two weeks after the Senate Budget Committee advanced the South Carolina Republican's nomination by a 12-11 vote.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a back-and-forth voice vote, the tally was 50-47 when Sen. Mitch McConnell's name was called. His "aye" vote sealed the nomination with 51 senators in favor. As the votes rolled in, groups of Democrats and Republicans huddled on the Senate floor, locked in conversation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Immediately after the vote, McConnell took the floor to begin consideration of another Trump nomination — that of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/07/503626660/trump-reportedly-picks-oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-to-lead-epa" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt</a>&nbsp;for the post of U.S. EPA administrator.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats who opposed Mulvaney's nomination spoke of his view that Social Security and Medicare must be overhauled — a move that, as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/01/24/511468429/budget-director-nominee-splits-with-trump-on-entitlement-reform" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">NPR's Scott Horsley reported</a>&nbsp;last month, Trump promised not to undertake.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At least one Republican — Sen. John McCain of Arizona — had&nbsp;<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/02/15/john-mccain-opposes-confirmation-donald-trump-budget-nominee-mick-mulvaney/97966096/" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">said he would vote against</a>&nbsp;Mulvaney's confirmation, in a move McCain said was based on the congressman's position on defense spending. In the past, McCain also faulted Mulvaney for his role in the 2013 government shutdown.</font></p><aside id="ad-backstage-wrap" aria-label="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><aside id="ad-mobilebackfill-wrap" aria-label="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="ad-mobilebackfill-News_Politics" class="ad-mobilebackfill" data-ad-config="{" network="network" n6735="n6735" site="site" nprmobile="NPRMOBILE" zone="zone" news_politics="News_Politics" targets="targets" agg="agg" theme="theme" storyid="storyId" blog="blog" testserver="testserver" false="false" containscenterstage="containscenterstage" true="true" location="location" mobilebackfill="mobilebackfill" deferred="deferred" isbetweencontent="isBetweenContent" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; text-align: center;" /></aside><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mulvaney "is a prominent member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of around 40 conservatives that grew out of the Tea Party movement,"&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/17/505964561/trump-announces-nomination-of-s-c-s-mulvaney-to-head-budget-office" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">as we reported</a>&nbsp;when his nomination was announced.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the House, Mulvaney played a prominent role in the shutdown of the federal government over a budget impasse in late 2013. He had advocated for a similar shutdown back in 2011.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.70588; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mulvaney's confirmation follows a setback for Trump: On Wednesday, his labor secretary nominee, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/02/15/515425370/trump-labor-pick-andrew-puzders-nomination-appears-in-jeopardy" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">withdrew his nam</a>e from consideration after failing to get enough support from Republicans.</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">trumpistas:</font></p><table style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; width: 963px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Baker</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Confidential Assistant</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-13</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/23/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kerrie Carr</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Confidential Assistant</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-11</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/23/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charles Dankert</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-13</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/23/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emma Doyle</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senior Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-15</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeffrey Freeland</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senior Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SES</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Gray</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-15</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/23/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daniel Hanlon</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senior Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-13</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">James Herz</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advior</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-15</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brenton McNeely</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senior Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SES</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marcus Peacock</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-15</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Douglas Sellers</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Confidential Assistant</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-11</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/23/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russell Vought</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SES</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Williams</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-15</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management and Budget</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ron Wilson</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisor</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GS-13</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/20/17</font></td></tr><tr style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NASA</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gregory Autry†</font></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Liaison</font></td></tr></tbody></table><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">still at it?</font></p><div><a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/06/28/15000/how-politics-derailed-epa-science-arsenic-endangering-public-health"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/06/28/15000/how-politics-derailed-epa-science-arsenic-endangering-public-health</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMB 300 missing studies arsenic scam epa</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The&nbsp;<b>Office of Management and Budget</b>&nbsp;(<b>OMB</b>) is the largest office within the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States" title="Executive Office of the President of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Executive Office</a></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States" title="Executive Office of the President of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"> of the President of the United States</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(EOP).<b> The main function of OMB is to produce the President's Budget.</b></span><b><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[2]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures and to see if they comply with the president's policies.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The current OMB Director is&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Donovan" title="Shaun Donovan" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Shaun Donovan</a>, who was nominated by the president following the nomination of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Mathews_Burwell" title="Sylvia Mathews Burwell" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Sylvia Mathews Burwell</a>&nbsp;to become the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Health_and_Human_Services" title="United States Secretary of Health and Human Services" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">United States Secretary of Health and Human Services</a>. Donovan was confirmed by the Senate in a 75–22 vote.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[3]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h2>&nbsp;<span class="toctoggle" style="-webkit-user-select: none;">&nbsp;[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">hide</a>]&nbsp;</span></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#History" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">History</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Purpose" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Purpose</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Structure" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Structure</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Overview" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">3.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Overview</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Organization" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">3.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Organization</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Key_staff" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Key staff</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#List_of_directors" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">List of directors</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">See also</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#References" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">7</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">8</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External links</span></font></a></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Office_of_Management_and_Budget&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: History" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The&nbsp;</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bureau of the Budget</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, OMB's predecessor, was established in 1921 as a part of the Department of the Treasury by the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_and_Accounting_Act_of_1921" title="Budget and Accounting Act of 1921" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Budget and Accounting Act of 1921</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, which was signed into law by president&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_G.Harding" title="Warren G. Harding" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Warren G. Harding</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The Bureau of the Budget was moved to the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States" title="Executive Office of the President of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Executive Office of the President</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in 1939, and reorganized into the Office of Management and Budget in 1970 during the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" title="Richard Nixon" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Nixon administration</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[4]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The first OMB included&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Ash" title="Roy Ash" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Roy Ash</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(head)</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_O%27Neill(cabinet_member)" title="Paul O'Neill (cabinet member)" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Paul O'Neill</a>&nbsp;(assistant director</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">),&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Malek" title="Fred Malek" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Fred Malek</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(deputy director) and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zarb" title="Frank Zarb" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Frank Zarb</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(associate director) and two dozen others.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In the 1990s, OMB was reorganized to remove the distinction between management staff and budgetary staff by combining the dual roles into each given program examiner within the Resource Management Offices.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[5]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Purpose">Purpose</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Office_of_Management_and_Budget&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Purpose" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMB's predominant purpose is to assist the president in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in executive branch agencies. In helping to formulate the president's spending plans, OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the president's budget and with administration policies.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">OMB's critical missions are:<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[6]</a></sup></font></p><ol style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; line-height: 17.92px;"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Budget development and execution is a prominent government-wide process managed from the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and a device by which a president implements his policies, priorities, and actions in everything from the Department of Defense to NASA.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMB manages other agencies' financials, paperwork, and IT.</font></li></ol><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Structure">Structure</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Office_of_Management_and_Budget&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Structure" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Overview">Overview</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Office_of_Management_and_Budget&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Overview" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Office contains a significant number of career appointed staff; OMB staff provide important continuity regardless of which party occupies the White House. Six positions within OMB&nbsp;– the Director, the Deputy Director, the Deputy Director for Management, and the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">administrators of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Information_and_Regulatory_Affairs" title="Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Office_of_Federal_Procurement_Policy&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Office of Federal Procurement Policy (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Office of Federal Procurement Policy</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Federal_Financial_Management" title="Office of Federal Financial Management" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Office of Federal Financial Management</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;are presidentially appointed and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">Senate</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advice_and_consent" title="Advice and consent" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;">confirmed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;positions.</span></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget</font></p><div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 22.4px;" lang="en"><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The&nbsp;</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">U.S. Office of Management and Budget</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(OMB) is headed by</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Director&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sylvia_Mathews_Burwell" title="Sylvia Mathews Burwell" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sylvia Mathews Burwell</a>, formerly president of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Walmart_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Walmart Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><b>Walmart </b>Foundation</a>&nbsp;and, previously, President of the Global Development Program at the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundation" title="Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a>.</span><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[1]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[2]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h2>&nbsp;<span class="toctoggle" style="-webkit-user-select: none;">&nbsp;[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">hide</a>]&nbsp;</span></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Mission" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Mission</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#On_Global_Warming" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">On Global Warming</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Lobbied_by_the_Nuclear_Industry_for_Loan_Guarantees" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Lobbied by the Nuclear Industry for Loan Guarantees</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Personnel" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Personnel</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Contact_Information" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">5</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Contact Information</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Resources_and_Articles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Resources and Articles</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#Related_SourceWatch_Articles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.1</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">Related SourceWatch Articles</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#External_Links" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.2</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">External Links</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#External_Resources" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.3</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">External Resources</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#External_Articles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.4</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">External Articles</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#References" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.5</span>&nbsp;<span class="toctext">References</span></font></a></li></ul></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Mission"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mission</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Office's web site, the OMB's "predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. In helping to formulate the President's spending plans, OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the President's Budget and with Administration policies.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the Administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public."<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[3]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="On_Global_Warming"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Global Warming</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">U.S. Vice President&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dick Cheney</a>'s office was behind a push to censor congressional testimony that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Global_warming" title="Global warming" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">global warming</a>&nbsp;poses a danger to the public, according to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jason_Burnett&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jason Burnett (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Jason Burnett</a>, a former associate deputy administrator at the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Environmental_Protection_Agency" title="U.S. Environmental Protection Agency" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a>. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">T</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he vice president and the White House Office of Management and Budget heavily edited testimony last year by the director of the&nbsp;<b><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Centers_for_Disease_Control(CDC)&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Centers for Disease Control (CDC)</a>.</b> "I read the testimony, checked with EPA scientists, and came to the conclusion that the draft testimony was fundamentally accurate as written," Burnett stated in a letter to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barbara_Boxer" title="Barbara Boxer" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Barbara Boxer</a>, who chairs the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Committee_on_Environment_and_Public_Works" title="Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[4]</a></sup></span></font></p><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Lobbied_by_the_Nuclear_Industry_for_Loan_Guarantees"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lobbied by the Nuclear Industry for Loan Guarantees</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In May 2007,&nbsp;<i>The Hill</i>&nbsp;reported that the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nuclear_Energy_Institute" title="Nuclear Energy Institute" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Nuclear Energy Institute</a>&nbsp;(NEI), along with "top banking institutions" are lobbying the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Department_of_Energy" title="U.S. Department of Energy" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">U.S. Department of Energy</a>&nbsp;(DoE) for "more comprehensive" federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. "Since the April meeting" with OMB, the DoE "has proposed that the federal government cover 90 percent of loan guarantees, higher than its original guidelines of 80 percent."<sup id="cite_ref-Hill_5-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-Hill-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[5]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">NEI's "New Plant Finance Task Force" is telling federal agencies that without total or near-total federal loan guarantees, which "act as default protection for private lenders," nuclear power companies will "have difficulty in financing new plants, which can cost as much as $4 billion." NEI's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_Myers" title="Richard Myers" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Richard Myers</a>&nbsp;said that even increasing the loan guarantees to 90% of plant costs "will probably not be workable." A DoE spokesperson said the agency was not supporting a greater than 90% guarantee because the agency must protect "the taxpayer dollar from the potential financial risks of these projects."<sup id="cite_ref-Hill_5-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-Hill-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[5]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Personnel"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Personnel</font></span></h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Howard_Shelanski&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Howard Shelanski (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Howard Shelanski</a>, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">[6]</a></sup></font></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Contact_Information"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact Information</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Website:&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/</a></font></p><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Resources_and_Articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Resources and Articles</font></span></h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_SourceWatch_Articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related SourceWatch Articles</font></span></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; 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background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">U.S. National Debt</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.tax_cuts" title="U.S. tax cuts" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">U.S. tax cuts</font></a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_Links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External Links</font></span></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Bogardus, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thehill.com/the-executive/nuclear-power-banks-link-up-in-bid-to-get-better-financing-2007-05-24.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Nuclear power, banks link up in bid to get better financing</a>,"&nbsp;<i>The Hill</i>, May 24, 2007.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ben Lando, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.upi.com/Energy/Analysis/2007/05/25/analysis_nuclear_loan_backing_cloudy/7649/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Analysis: Nuclear Loan Backing Cloudy</a>," UPI, May 25, 2007.</font></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_Resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External Resources</font></span></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Wikipedia help</font></a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_Articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External Articles</font></span></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/14434/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Knowledge Enhanced Searching on the Web</font></a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="mw-headline" id="References"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></span></h3><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">U.S. Office of Management and Budget,&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/organization_office/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">OMB Leadership</a>, governmental agency website, accessed June 2013.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">Walmart,&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/10727.aspx" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Walmart Foundation Names New President</a>, corporate press release, October 14, 2011, accessed April 4, 2012.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">U.S. White House,&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/organization/role.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Role</a>, governmental agency website, accessed ~2006.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">Stephen Power, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121554228130836473.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Cheney Sought to Alter Climate Discussion</a>,"&nbsp;<i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, July 8, 2008.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-Hill-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;">↑&nbsp;<sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-Hill_5-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up to:</span>5.0</a></sup>&nbsp;<sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-Hill_5-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">5.1</a></sup></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">Kevin Bogardus, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thehill.com/the-executive/nuclear-power-banks-link-up-in-bid-to-get-better-financing-2007-05-24.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Nuclear power, banks link up in bid to get better financing</a>,"&nbsp;<i>The Hill</i>, May 24, 2007.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="-webkit-user-select: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span>&nbsp;<span class="reference-text">Sidney Shapiro,&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidney-shapiro/howard-shelanski-confirmation-hearing_b_3418441.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" background-color="background-color" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">What to Listen for at Confirmation Hearing for White House Regulatory Czar</a>,&nbsp;<i>Huffington Post</i>, June 11, 2013.</span></font></li></ol></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Categories</a>:&nbsp;</font><ul style="list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-style: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Nuclear_PR" title="Category:Nuclear PR" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Nuclear PR</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:U.S.government" title="Category:U.S. government" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">U.S. government</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Government_agencies_(US)" title="Category:Government agencies (US)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Government agencies (US)</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Government" title="Category:Government" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Government</a></li></ul></div></div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sciencecorruption.com/ATN167/00244.html</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><u><b>The creation of the EOP Group lobbyfirm:</b></u>
<font class="note">[In White House-speak&nbsp;<b>EOP = Executive Office of the President</b>]</font>

<b>Michael O'Bannon</b>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<b>Ernest Robson</b>&nbsp;initially joined Tozzi's lobby shop (MBS), but they left in 1992. Later they joined with&nbsp;<b>Joseph Hezir, David Gibbons</b>&nbsp;and Assistant Secretary of Energy,&nbsp;<b>Jan Mares,</b>&nbsp;to open the&nbsp;<b>EOP Group</b>&nbsp;— the only lobby firm besides Tozzi's to specialize in lobbying the OMB.
</font></p><ul><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michael O'Bannon</b>&nbsp;- from Dept of Interior and OIRA (joined Tozzi in MBS, then left to manage the EOP Group)</font></li><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ernest Robins</b>&nbsp;- OIRA (joined Tozzi's MBS and then the EOP Group)</font></li><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Joseph Hezir</b>&nbsp;- OMB/OIRA (joined EOP Group)</font></li><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>David Gibbons</b>&nbsp;- OIRA (joined EOP Group)</font></li><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Jan Mares</b>&nbsp;- Assistant Secretary of Energy, - (brought in later to front the EOP Group)</font></li><li style="padding-top: 0.1cm;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Jonathon Gledhill</b>&nbsp;- OMB & OIRA (later joined EOP Group)</font></li></ul>

<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leading environmental organizations are pressing the White House not to bow to industry pressure to abandon the government's main method for measuring the future costs of global warming pollution and the benefits of new pollution controls.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">At issue is an economic calculation known as the "social cost of carbon," or SCC, which estimates the cost in dollars that society will ultimately pay for the harm caused by each ton of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">That price tag helps policymakers decide how much economic sense it makes to impose costly emissions controls.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil, gas and other industry groups recently petitioned the White House Office of Management and Budget to prohibit the use of the cost-benefit tool, arguing that it was imprecise and needed additional peer review.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a filing on Wednesday, the method's defenders countered that while the estimates could be improved over time, they are "an important, if conservative estimate of the costs of climate change and the benefits of reducing carbon pollution."</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The SCC estimate has been used in more than 40 regulatory actions, ranging from efficiency standards for appliances to proposed emissions standards for coal-fired power plants.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similar approaches are used by other governments and international institutions. The cost calculations are based on widely used peer-reviewed climate and economic models.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Without an SCC estimate, regulators would by default be using a value of zero for the benefits of reducing carbon pollution, implying that carbon pollution has no costs," a joint submission by experts from four organizations said. "That, sadly, is not the case, as evidenced by the large body of research outlining the sobering health, environmental, and economic impacts of rising temperatures, extreme weather, intensifying smog, and other climate impacts."</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The document was sent to OMB by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law.</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">A central estimate used by the Obama administration is that a ton of carbon dioxide carries a price tag to society of about $37. That means it would be worthwhile to spend $37 a ton today to control carbon pollution in order to prevent the damages the emissions would cause in the future....</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/obama-urged-not-abandon-social-cost-carbon-tool"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://insideclimatenews.org/content/obama-urged-not-abandon-social-cost-carbon-tool</font></a>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font>

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Who-Will-Tell-The-People/dp/0671867407#reader_0671867407"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.amazon.com/Who-Will-Tell-The-People/dp/0671867407#reader_0671867407</font></a>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p>

<div id="sitbReaderBookTitle"><a title="Go to " who="" will="" tell="" the="" people="people" betrayal="" of="" american="" democracy="democracy" page="page" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671867407/ref=rdr_ext_tmb"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of A…</font></a></div>

<div id="sitbReaderAuthorBlock"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=rdr_ext_aut?_encoding=UTF8&index=books&field-author=William%20Greider">William Greider</a></font></div>

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<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">ch 6 on gray and RR OMB</font>

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<h1 class="title"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Death by Delay: Obama Team Stalls on Chemical Regulation</font></h1>

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<div class="meta"><span class="submitted" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35294/rebekah-wilce" title="View user profile.">Rebekah Wilce</a> — March 26, 2012 - 8:29am</font></span></div>

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<li class="vocabulary-2"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: <span class="term-4"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment">Environment</a></span>, <span class="term-64"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/health">Health</a></span>, <span class="term-89"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/us-government">U.S. Government</a></span></font></li>

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<li class="vocabulary-9"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Projects: <span class="term-740"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/campaigns/food-rights-network">Food Rights Network</a></span></font></li>

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<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Environmental_Protection_Agency" title="reference on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency" target="self">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) has drafted a "chemicals of concern" list to restrict the use of certain chemicals and alert the public to their possible dangers. But the list remains secret and dormant because it's stuck at the Obama administration's <a href="http://www.progressivereform.org/eyeonoira.cfm" title="reference on Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs" target="_blank">Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs</a> (OIRA) for review.</font>

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<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">OIRA is a division of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Office_of_Management_and_Budget" title="reference on U.S. Office of Management and Budget" target="self">U.S. Office of Management and Budget</a> (OMB). According to Katie Greenhaw, Regulatory Policy Analyst at the government watch-dog group OMB Watch, OIRA has 90 - 120 days to review rules from a regulatory agency, before releasing the rule back to the agency to open it up for public comment. Rules then go back to OIRA for additional review before being published as final rules. This rule has been stuck at OIRA for <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/02/09/8109/chemicals-concern-list-stuck-omb" title="reference on almost two years" target="_blank">almost two years</a>. That means the public hasn't even laid eyes on it.</font></p>

<h2><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secret List</font></h2>

<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA has hinted that its list of chemicals that may cause "unreasonable risk of injury to human health or the environment" <em><a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=201004&RIN=2070-AJ70" title="reference on may include" target="_blank">may include</a></em> "a category of eight phthalates, a category of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and bisphenol A (BPA)."</font></p>

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<h3><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMB's Regulatory 'Hit List'</font></b></h3>

<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">by CPR Member Scholar <a href="http://www.progressivereform.org/SindenAmyBio.cfm">Amy Sinden</a><b>

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<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Issue

<span> OMB's annual report to Congress on the costs and benefits of regulation create the false impression that cost-benefit analysis can meaningfully sort those regulations that are good for society from those that are bad. OMB has capitalized on this misimpression by using the annual report process to create a "hit list" of purportedly "bad" regulations targeted for elimination or reform - a hit list that is little more than a backdoor channel for industry lobbyists to create a wish-list of regulations for the chopping block.</span></font></p>

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<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;http://www.progressivereform.org/perspOMB.cfm</font>

<strong><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Background</font></strong>

<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Each year, the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issues a Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulation. This report purports to provide an overall accounting of the aggregate costs and benefits of federal regulations issued during the previous ten-year period. While OMB always finds that, in the aggregate, the benefits of federal regulations far outweigh their costs, behind this seemingly sunny assessment is a biased and ideologically driven attempt to discredit and dismantle important environmental health and safety protections. In attaching precise numbers to the costs and benefits of regulations, the OMB reports create a false impression that such values can be meaningfully measured in monetary terms and that cost-benefit analysis can be used to scientifically assess the efficacy and desirability of particular regulations. This sets the stage for the creation of OMB's regulatory "hit list" - an industry wish-list of federal regulations targeted for elimination or reform in the guise of promoting neutral-sounding principles like "economic efficiency."

OMB's 2005 report, for example, pegs the aggregate costs of federal regulations issued during the previous ten years at $34.8 to $39.4 billion and the aggregate benefits at $68.1 to $259.6 billion. Lest we too hastily conclude that federal regulation offers a good bargain, however, the report immediately cautions that "[a] substantial portion of both benefits and costs is attributable to a handful of Environmental Protection Agency clean air rules that reduce public exposure to fine particulate matter." Thus, when it comes to individual rules outside the EPA's regulation of fine particulate matter, OMB's accounting shows many of these provisions delivering far fewer dollars in benefits than they impose in costs. Often these disparate numbers simply reflect the fact that the benefits of regulation - things like health, safety, clean air and water, or functioning ecosystems - are far more difficult to measure in monetary terms than are the costs. The OMB reports, however, suggest that such regulations are "economically inefficient" and therefore undesirable.

Indeed, in several of its most recent reports, OMB has compiled a "hit list" of purportedly inefficient regulations that, in OMB's view, should be considered for elimination or modification. While OMB has never explained why particular rules were targeted for this list, contemporaneous press accounts indicated that the "hit list" process was initiated through a series of meetings with industry lobbyists convened at the behest of OMB. The purpose of these meetings was to identify and rank regulations that business groups found "overly burdensome."

In 2001, for example - the first year that OMB compiled the "hit list" - it received nominations covering 71 federal regulations. Forty-four of these nominations were submitted by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a conservative think tank funded by many of the same industries that are directly regulated by the targeted rules. Of the 71 submissions, OMB ranked 23 as "high priority" on the basis of brief, skeletal statements (often no more than a page) submitted by Mercatus and other industry groups. Thirteen of the 23 rules on the "hit list" were environmental regulations, including such important promulgations as the Forest Service's roadless area conservation rule and EPA's rule strengthening the standard for arsenic in drinking water. EPA's rule regulating water pollution from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) also made it onto the list, just one month after representatives of the agriculture industry met with top-level OMB officials. Despite repeated requests from the Center for Progressive Reform and OMB Watch, however, OMB has never disclosed the criteria by which it selects rules for inclusion on the "hit list."</font></p>

<div><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"> What People Are Fighting About </font></b></div>

<p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those who favor the use of cost-benefit analysis in evaluating regulatory programs argue that it is a neutral standard that will enhance economic efficiency and cut government waste. In fact, however, cost-benefit analysis has a long pedigree as a tool for the promotion of an extremist, anti-regulatory agenda. President Reagan, who first came into office in 1981 with the avowed mission of dismantling the regulatory state, charged the OMB with the task of subjecting federal regulations to cost-benefit scrutiny. OMB soon became the institutional home of the most ardent anti-regulators in the administration. By demanding that agencies prepare detailed and comprehensive cost-benefit analyses for major regulations and frequently sending rules back for more and more detailed analyses, the Reagan OMB held up regulations with which it had substantive objections for months and in some cases forever. While OMB softened its approach somewhat under the Clinton administration, the Bush II OMB has again adopted an aggressive anti-regulatory posture, frequently using its cost-benefit mandate to push agencies to roll back or weaken regulatory protections for health, safety and the environment.

The problem is that, while cost-benefit analysis purports to be neutral, its methodologies systematically under-value health, safety and environmental protection. [See CPR Perspective on Cost-benefit Analysis, "<a href="http://www.progressivereform.org/perspcostbenefit.cfm">Pricing the Priceless: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Health, Safety, and Environmental Protection</a>."] The benefits that we derive from regulation - particularly environmental regulation - are usually intangible and not amenable to measurement in monetary terms. Things like human life, clean air and water, pristine wilderness, or the survival of an endangered species simply cannot be measured in dollars. In its annual report, OMB sometimes responds to this dilemma by simply declining to include all the benefits of a regulation in its monetary estimate. In many instances, this creates the impression that a particular regulation imposes costs far in excess of the benefits it delivers. One needs to read the fine print in order to learn that the quantified estimate "does not fully capture" all of the environmental benefits conferred by the rule. And ultimately, of course, it is only these incomplete monetary estimates of benefits - purged of all narrative caveats - that are incorporated into the ten-year accounting of the overall costs and benefits of all federal regulations in the aggregate.

In other instances, OMB employs highly controversial and contestable methods to derive monetary estimates of environmental values. For example, economists actually purport to put a price on life itself by studying things like how much more pay workers demand to take jobs that increase their risk of death. But aside from the practical difficulties of deriving such numbers, there are theoretical conundrums that decades of scholarly attention have failed to resolve. Consider, for example, the likelihood that rich people will demand more to take on risk than poor people. Which value is correct? Or are the lives of the poor worth less than those of the rich?

This is just one of many difficulties that make estimates of environmental benefits endlessly contestable. The result is that for virtually any determination that the benefits of a particular regulation exceed the costs, anyone with the money to hire an economist can massage the numbers to make the opposite case. EPA's arsenic rule - one of the members of the original "hit list" - provides a telling example. EPA's cost-benefit analysis pegged the costs of the rule at $206 million per year and the benefits at $140 to $198 million per year. A scholarly analysis of EPA's underlying data, however, concluded that reasonable people employing reasonable assumptions could estimate the benefits as low as $13 million or as high as $3.4 billion. In cases like this, cost-benefit analysis is ultimately indeterminate and simply creates an invitation to the rich and powerful to manipulate the numbers to legitimize their desired result. This may explain why industry groups largely support the increased use of cost-benefit analysis in environmental rulemaking, while environmental groups oppose it.</font>

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<div><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"> CPR's Perspective </font></b></div>

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<font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMB's annual reports on the aggregate costs and benefits of federal regulations are highly misleading. By attaching precise numbers to costs and benefits, they create the false impression that these values can be meaningfully and objectively measured, and that the efficacy and desirability of a regulatory scheme can be determined with scientific precision. In fact, underneath the veneer of mathematical precision lie a host of uncertainties, ambiguities and value judgments.

Moreover, OMB's annual reports are grossly incomplete. While they purport to provide an estimate of the costs and benefits of all federal regulations, they in fact leave out major categories of regulation. Homeland security regulations, for example, are categorically excluded from OMB's accounting of overall costs and benefits because "the benefits of improved security are very difficult to quantify and monetize." The exclusion of this major category of regulation obviously raises questions about the capacity for OMB's aggregate figures to generate meaningful generalizations about the success or "efficiency" of the federal regulatory program as a whole. It also highlights the way in which OMB provides selective treatment to regulations depending on their goals or content. Homeland security regulations apparently get a free ride from OMB. That is, OMB does not require the Department of Homeland Security to justify its regulations with cost-benefit analysis because OMB accepts that the benefits of such regulations are simply too difficult to monetize.

This treatment contrasts sharply with the treatment OMB accords regulations that produce environmental, health, and safety benefits, even though those benefits are also, by OMB's own admission, extremely difficult and often impossible to monetize. Nonetheless, OMB continues to subject environmental regulations to quantified cost-benefit analysis and - even where only a grossly incomplete quantification can be derived - to include them in its aggregate estimate of overall regulatory costs and benefits. This is particularly insidious because cost-benefit analysis often creates the misimpression that the costs of such regulations outweigh their benefits.

By purporting to measure the social costs and benefits of regulations with mathematical precision - sometimes calculating out to the second decimal place - OMB's annual reports create the false impression that cost-benefit analysis can meaningfully sort those regulations that are good for society from those that are bad. OMB has capitalized on this misimpression by using the annual report process to create a "hit list" of purportedly "bad" regulations targeted for elimination or reform. But there are two problems with the "hit list." First, it is not at all clear that cost-benefit analysis provides a meaningful measure of the social desirability of regulations. Second, there is no evidence that OMB has actually even bothered to make compliance with a cost-benefit standard a criterion for inclusion on the list. Indeed, it is not clear that there are any criteria for the list other than lobbying power. In the end, OMB's "hit list" appears to be little more than a backdoor channel for industry lobbyists to create a wish-list of regulations for the chopping block.</font></p>

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