All Things Reform blog notes 2008-01-14

Public Citizen | Press Room - Drug Companies, F...

2008-01-15T03:59:31.690Z

Users of the prescription cholesterol medicine Zetia and Vytorin received some troubling news from the makers of the drug today: Although the pills they’re taking lower their cholesterol, there is no evidence that they reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and may, in fact, be putting them at risk...
We wish we could say this is an isolated case but there are too many other examples of negative findings being buried in the FDA’s files. This year, the drug industry gave $400 million to the drug division of the FDA, which funds most of the salaries of those scientists who review drugs. You would have to be living on a cloud to think that the money doesn’t have an impact on the FDA’s drug approvals or regulation of the industry.

Public Citizen 2008-01-14

Public Citizen | Press Room - Public Citizen Ca...

2008-01-18T02:28:23.017Z

Public Citizen today asked the House and Senate ethics committees and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to issue guidance to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other lobbying organizations to prevent likely violations of the ethics rules. The MPAA has publicly indicated that it will continue its decades-old lobbying practice of providing lawmakers food, drinks and free screenings of unreleased feature films at its private studio two blocks from the White House. Each of the ethics agencies should make it clear to the MPAA and federal officials that such gifts violate the new congressional gift ban and the executive branch ethics code, Public Citizen said.

Public Citizen 2008-01-17

Public Citizen | Press Room - Presidential Cand...

2008-01-18T02:24:12.188Z

Public Citizen today sent letters to the seven major candidates who have yet to provide any insight into how much their top fundraisers have raised. The letters ask the candidates to promptly disclose the names of bundlers who have brought in at least $100,000.

All of the remaining candidates, except for Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Rep. Duncan Hunter, are relying on bundlers, a term for fundraisers who raise large amounts of cash and whose efforts are tracked by the campaign they are supporting.

But only Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have provided any insight into how much their bundlers have raised. Obama names bundlers who have raised at least $50,000, $100,000 and $200,000; Clinton names bundlers who have raised at least $100,000.

Public Citizen 2008-01-17

Gmail - National Popular Vote bill signed into ...

2008-01-15T03:51:31.648Z

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine yesterday signed the National Popular Vote Bill into law. New Jersey thus joins Maryland as the second state to enact the bill. The enactment of the legislation in New Jersey came less than 23 months after National Popular Vote held its initial press conference on February 23, 2006.

Last week, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the bill and sent the bill to Governor Rod R. Blagojevich for his signature.

National Popular Vote newsletter 2008-01-14

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2008-01-15T07:12:39.915Z

The National Popular Vote (NPV) compact will require an Electoral College majority of 270 electors to take effect. In addition to Maryland’s 10 votes and the Garden State’s 15, all eyes now turn to Illinois, where the bill was sent to the governor for signing last week as well.
Will America soon be 46 electors closer to more democratic presidential elections? Stay tuned!

FairVote blog 2008-01-14

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2008-01-15T07:02:20.825Z

Earmarks ... are merely biased redistribution of taxpayer dollars. It is not the responsibility of people in Florida to pay for concessions at a theater in Ohio. Nor should Texans’ money be sent to Ohio for internship programs. A disproportionate amount of the booty always goes to the states and districts of Appropriations Committee members (like Rep. Hobson). These politicians make off with a huge amount of the spoils simply because they are well-placed to do so, not because they are more deserving.

If [a legislator's] projects are as worthy as he claims, then [he] should have requested funding through the proper budgetary channels which are competitive and more accountable and transparent.

The Swine Line blog from Citizens Against Government Waste 2008-01-14

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2008-01-15T06:54:42.311Z

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today reiterated support for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) efforts to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in improper medical payments made to hospitals and healthcare providers using the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program. RACs, which are private sector auditing companies that specialize in uncovering improper payments to hospitals and healthcare providers, have offered a common-sense solution to the leakage of billions in overpayments and underpayments to healthcare contractors. Audits being conducted in three states (

, and

) as part of a CMS demonstration project launched in 2005 have exposed $299.5 million in improper payments. However, despite Medicare officials’ pronouncements that the audits are a deterrent to fraud, some politicians are lining up to gut the program before it rolls out nationwide even though millions are being funneled back into the Medicare Trust Fund.

According to a November 16, 2007 statement by CMS acting director Kerry Weems, the agency has recently seen the payment error rate drop significantly. That translates into $11 billion that the government has retained instead of seeing it paid to healthcare providers who billed for it erroneously.

Citizens Against Government Waste press release 2008-01-14

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2008-01-15T07:08:22.453Z

Today’s Roll Call said it is “increasingly likely” that President Bush will sign an executive order telling federal agencies to ignore the earmarks that have appeared in the fiscal 2008 spending bills. The President would make the announcement in his State of the Union Address on January 28. The money would be reprogrammed for other purposes such as children’s health or bridge repair, or rebated to taxpayers. However it is re-used, it would be better spent than on projects such as $2 million for the Charles Rangel “Monument to Me” at the City College of New York, $1 million for a river walk in Massachusetts, $213,000 for olive fruit fly research in France, and $113,000 for rodent control in Alaska ($113,000).

The Swine Line blog from Citizens Against Government Waste 2008-01-14