Gibbons, Jim rep

<p>DATA QUALITY ACT</p>

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<font face="Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif"><font size="2"><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/2003iq/162.pdf" target="_blank">One group of commenters</a> - 20 former top federal regulators (more from Dem than GOP administrations) including former EPA Administrators Carol Browner and Russell Train - called on OMB to withdraw the proposal and let the National Academy of Sciences handle the issue.&nbsp;</font></font></p>

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Also calling for its withdrawal were Reps. Henry A. Waxman (CA), John F. Tierney (MA), and five other House Democrats. Waxman's staff maintains a <a href="http://www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/" target="_blank">Congressional Web site</a> that tracks what it considers the Bush administration's political manipulation of science related to health and the environment.</p>

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On the other side, saying the OMB proposal did not go far enough, were GOP Reps. Jim Gibbons and Chris Cannon (UT), styling himself co-Chair of the "Sound Science Caucus," a group that declared its intention to form in Oct. 2003, a month after OMB proposed its bulletin, by a core of Western GOPers centered mainly in the Resources Committee. They have gun sights trained on the "precautionary principle."</p>

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Commenters generally supportive of the OMB bulletin included the American Petroleum Institute, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, Industrial Minerals Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council (jointly), Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association, Nickel Development Institute, Styrene Information and Research Center, Chlorine Chemistry Council, American Chemistry Council, CropLife America, Edison Electric Institute, National Association of Home Builders, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers. Some of the groups urged OMB to assume even more control of agency science.

Commenters opposing or calling for major revisions of the bulletin included the National Academy of Sciences, Association of American Medical Colleges and Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (jointly), Ornithological Council, Federation of American Scientists, American Public Health Association, Ecological Society of America, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

<a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?ID=634">&nbsp;http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?ID=634</a></p>