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03/12/2012

Politico: Group sues over ‘agency earmarks’ data

Read the full story here. Politico

“The government accountability group Cause of Action is suing the Obama administration over the practice of ‘agency earmarks,’ alleging that the Office of Management and Budget is not complying with open records Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the practice.

Agency earmarks, in contrast to legislative earmarks, are a process where federal agencies use their discretionary funds to give out grants. Upon taking over the House in 2010, Republicans put a ban on the practice of legislative earmarking — but some lawmakers have nevertheless found ways to fill bills with pet projects.

‘By continuing to remain silent, the OMB is precluding American taxpayers from knowing the truth,’ said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action. ‘The time for playing shell games with administrative earmarks has come to an end.'”

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03/8/2012

CoA Sues White House for Failing to Disclose Documents on Administrative Earmarks

 CAUSE OF ACTION SUES WHITE HOUSE FOR FAILING TO DISCLOSE DOCUMENTS ON ADMINISTRATIVE EARMARKS

 Management and Budget Office Remains Silent On Potential Coordination Between Congress and Federal Agencies On Pet Projects

WASHINGTON – Cause of Action filed suit Wednesday against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) citing the OMB’s continued failure to produce documents regarding executive branch agencies’ use of administrative earmarks. Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act for documents relating to the cooperation of Congress and federal agencies on pet projects, the OMB has yet to comply with its FOIA obligations, prompting the government accountability group Cause of Action to file suit.

 

“By continuing to remain silent, the OMB is precluding American taxpayers from knowing the truth,” said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action. “The time for playing shell games with administrative earmarks has come to an end.”

 

After the House and Senate both embraced moratoriums on legislative earmarks, Cause of Action’s investigators saw an alarming potential for violations by Congress and these unchecked federal agencies. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) has stated that lawmakers are “convincing Obama administration officials to fund their pet projects,” and confirmed that “appropriators are going to be okay because we know people in agencies.”  By circumventing the earmark ban and channeling recommendations for pet projects through federal agencies, administrative earmarks have, until now, gone unchecked.

 

While the Obama Administration has iterated its support of the earmark ban, with the President himself stating in the State of the Union Address that if a bill came to his desk “with earmarks inside,” he will veto it, concerns remain over this avenue of agency grants achieving the same ends as legislative earmarks.  Just last month when confronted with a report from The Heritage Foundation showing how key legislative votes coincided with spikes in federal agency grants to Democratic districts, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed that, “the president’s opposition to earmarks is well known.”

 

“The administration cannot have it both ways,” continued Epstein.  “Either it is opposed to earmarks or it is allowing them through new means, and the public has a right to know which is true.”

 

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that uses public advocacy and legal reform tools to ensure greater transparency in government, protect taxpayer interests and promote economic freedom. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

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See the full complaint here: 7 March 2012 Suit against OMB re Administrative Earmarks FOIA

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01/27/2012

CoA’s Dan Epstein Joins Martha Zoller Show to Discuss Case Against the Dept. of Energy

Dan Epstein – Martha Zoller Show, Jan 27, 2012

Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action joined The Martha Zoller Show to discuss the lawsuit filed against the Department of Energy that could threaten jobs and costs consumers millions of dollars.

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01/27/2012

The Daily Caller: Heating and AC distributors file petition against Energy Dept.

Read the full story here. Daily Caller

“Cause of Action, representing HARDI, however, claims that the new standards will result in the loss of nearly 17,000 jobs, $7 million in lost wages and that the elderly will be disproportionately affected because they will not be able to recover the costs associated with purchasing more expensive yet energy efficient appliances.

The group is seeking judicial intervention on the grounds that the DOE did not follow proper procedures when adopting the so-called direct final rule, mandating the regional standards.”

 

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01/24/2012

CoA Holds Dept. of Energy Accountable for Ignoring Procedure

Cause of Action, on behalf of Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit against the Department of Energy for refusing to follow protocol and breaking procedure. The Department of Energy issued a rule that will drive up costs for distributors, installers, and consumers of heating and air conditioning products across the United States.  Refusing to acknowledge properly filed comments and concerns from HARDI, the Department of Energy issued new energy efficiency standards set to go into effect May 2013.  Cause of Action took up HARDI’s case in the U.S. Court of Appeals to hold the Department of Energy accountable for ignoring procedure and inflicting job-killing regulation on the heating and air industry.

See the filed petition here and the full press release here.

(Image source: Flickr user OversightandReform)

 

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01/23/2012

CoA Files Petition on Behalf of HARDI Against the Department of Energy

Cause of Action Files Petition on Behalf of HARDI Against Department of Energy

DOE Oversteps Its Rule-making Bounds Causing Financial Consequences for Heating and Air Businesses and Customers

WASHINGTON – Cause of Action filed a petition on January 20 in the U.S. Court of Appeals on behalf of the Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) abuse of the regulatory process and overreach of authority which resulted in a rogue decision to impose unreasonable energy efficiency standards on distributors, installers, and users of residential heating and cooling products in the United States.

Acting outside of its purview, the DOE not only ignored concerns from HARDI about these rule changes, but sidestepped the proper established rule-making procedures, instead choosing to dictate a rule without regard for its serious financial consequences.

Cause of Action, a non-partisan organization dedicated to attacking waste, fraud, mismanagement and corruption in the federal government, took on this issue on behalf of HARDI out of recognition of the abuse of power being demonstrated by the DOE, and the potential precedent this could set for federal agencies.

“The Department of Energy is turning a deaf ear toward American businesses and choosing to enact rules with no regard for proper procedure,” said Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action. “Cause of Action chose to intervene on behalf of HARDI and the thousands of Americans they represent against this act of government abuse of power.  We urge the Court of Appeals to examine the unprecedented harm the Department of Energy is enacting on businesses and consumers around the country, and ask them to rein in this agency.”

For HARDI, their actions and opposition to the DOE on this issue have been evident since 2008, yet the DOE consistently ignored them.

“For years HARDI members have been discussing regional standards, then the consensus agreement, and now the potential impact of the Department of Energy’s direct final rule on our industry,” said HARDI President, Bud Mingledorff.  “Over the last several weeks alone, four individual votes were cast among varying levels of HARDI’s membership leaders, each of whom unanimously determined joining this litigation was the right thing to do.”

HARDI joins the American Public Gas Association (APGA) who has previously filed a petition on the matter with the Court of Appeals.

For more information or to speak with Jon Melchi, Director of Government Affairs of HARDI, or Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action, contact Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-587-5880, mary.beth.hutchins@causeofaction.org.

About HARDI:

Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) represents more than 460 wholesale companies and 300 manufacturing associates as well as nearly 125 manufacturer representatives. HARDI members represent an estimated 85 percent of the dollar value of the HVACR products sold through distribution.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that uses public advocacy and legal reform tools to ensure greater transparency in government, protect taxpayer interests and promote economic freedom. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

 

To see the motion to intervene filed by Cause of Action, click here.

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01/17/2012

VIDEO: CoA’s Amber Taylor on ANDERSON Discussing FDA’s Over Regulation of Trent Arsenault

Amber Taylor with Cause of Action visits Anderson Cooper’s daytime show to explain how the FDA is over regulating Trent Arsenault, a private citizen sperm donor who has been told to “cease manufacture” of his sperm.

 

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