Policy Forum

Amnesty International 2005 Report

Below are links from the 2005 report from Amnesty International

United States

full report

A Major Swipe At Sweatshops

Link: A Major Swipe At Sweatshops.

Now global labor monitoring may get a big leg up. Nike, Patagonia, Gap, and five other companies have joined forces with six leading anti-sweatshop groups to devise a single set of labor standards with a common factory-inspection system. The goal: to replace today's overlapping hodgepodge of approaches with something that's easier and cheaper to use -- and that might gain traction with more companies. After two years of debate, the parties quietly signed an agreement in late April to run a pilot project in several dozen Turkish factories that produce garments and other products for the eight companies.

U.S. firms said to be named in withheld Bolton documents

From the International Herald Tribune:

Some of the information that the White House has refused to provide to Congress for its review of the nomination of John Bolton includes the names of American companies mentioned in intelligence reports on commerce with China and other countries covered by export restrictions, say government officials who have been briefed on the documents.

It had previously been reported only that the White House was refusing to hand over the names of 19 American persons mentioned in 10 intelligence reports by the National Security Agency.

The fact that the documents also included the names of American companies, and that the subject had to do with possible violations of American export restrictions, provides a new clue as to why the White House might be rebuffing the congressional requests.

The names of the Americans and the companies remain highly classified, but they were provided to Bolton by the National Security Agency in response to special requests he made as under secretary of state for arms control. The Democrats who forced the postponement last week of a vote on Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations argued that the Senate should insist on access to the same information that was provided to Bolton.

But the White House has said that Congress has "all the information it needs" to decide on Bolton's nomination, and at his news conference on Tuesday, President George W. Bush dismissed the document request as "just another stall tactic by his opponents in Congress."

The administration has allowed the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee to review copies of the 10 intelligence reports, based on conversations intercepted by the National Security Agency, about which Bolton requested the additional information. But the names of American people and companies had been deleted from those reports, and the administration has refused to provide Senate leaders with the names, even though they were obtained by Bolton.

The government officials who described the intelligence reports declined to speak for the record, citing the classified nature of the documents and the extraordinary political sensitivity surrounding them. They would not say what countries other than China might have been the subject of the reports, but noted that Bolton's responsibilities also included monitoring efforts to prevent Iran, Libya and other countries from acquiring dangerous weapons.

The officials included both proponents and critics of Bolton's nomination, who said they wanted to provide the public with a clearer picture of the nature of the dispute between Congress and the White House. The officials did not know or would not say which American companies might have been mentioned in the documents.

As under secretary of state for arms control, Bolton had responsibilities that included efforts to enforce sanctions designed to combat problems posed by weapons proliferation. Illegal trade with China was a principal focus of his attention, but he was also the senior official responsible for the Proliferation Security Initiative, an effort to enlist countries around the world in intercepting suspicious shipments.

The senators who were briefed about the intelligence reports by General Michael Hayden, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, said in separate letters last week that Bolton had obtained access to what they described as "American persons identities." But the government officials who described the documents said that term was a blanket term used by the National Security Agency that encompasses the names of American business entities as well.

The senators, Pat Roberts of Kansas, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel, both said that they had concluded that Bolton had acted properly in requesting the information from the agency. Both senators said they did not need to know the names obtained by Bolton to reach that conclusion.

But Rockefeller questioned whether Bolton might have improperly shared the names with others. Senator Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, cited the administration's refusal to provide the names to Congress in persuading 39 other Democrats and one independent to block until at least next week any vote on Bolton's nomination.

OK House and Senate Pass Tax Cuts

The Oklahoma House passed HB1547 and the state Senate passed SB435. The major piece of HB 1547 was the reduction in the top state income tax rate. HB1547 lowers the top tax rate from 6.65% to 6.25%. An analysis by the Community Action Project of Tulsa County shows that this reduction 1) benefits the top 5% of wage earners the most and 2) does not guarantee any positive impact on Oklahoma's economic growth.

full report:                                                                                                                               “Is Lowering Oklahoma’s Top Income Tax Rate What the State Needs?”

Top court to decide Kansas death penalty law

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it would hear an appeal by Kansas of a state high court ruling that struck down the state's death penalty law.

The justices agreed to review a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that declared the law unconstitutional because it requires the death penalty be imposed when the sentencing jury finds the evidence for and against the defendant to be equal.

"The constitutionality of Kansas' death penalty statute and similar statutes in other states is an important issue that merits this court's attention," Attorney General Phill Kline said in the appeal.

The case involved Michael Marsh, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the 1996 fatal shooting of a 21-year-old woman and for then setting her house on fire, killing her 19-month-old daughter.

In striking down the law, the Kansas Supreme Court in December overturned Marsh's death sentence.

The justices will hear arguments in the case and then will issue a ruling during their upcoming term that begins in October.

A summary of the Kansas Supreme Court opinion can be found here

GOP Seeks Power to Restructure Entire Federal Government

From the OMB Watch:

The Bush administration's systematic dismantling of the public's protections could soon accelerate as Republican lawmakers prepare legislation that would permit the unrestrained restructuring of the entire federal government through results commissions and fast-track reorganization authority.

As we reported earlier, House Government Reform chair Tom Davis has vowed that a top priority for this Congress will be giving the White House the power to fast-track through Congress recommendations for restructuring the federal government. Now Inside EPA is reporting that Davis's office is drafting legislation to grant the White House power to develop restructuring plans that would be fast-tracked through Congress without the possibility of amendment. A source has told Inside EPA that Davis is awaiting the White House's imminent proposals for results and sunset commissions, which may include some version of fast-track reorganization authority.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers are proceeding with their own versions of commissions to reorganize government. As we reported earlier this month, one senator, probably Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), slipped into the budget resolution a "sense of the Senate" provision endorsing the concept of a results commission. Brownback is reportedly coordinating with Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) to develop a new proposal that combines elements of each member's proposals in past Congresses for results and sunset commissions respectively. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) has jumped on the bandwagon by reintroducing the Commission on the Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies Act, a version of the results commission concept. The CARFA Act would link performance data, such as the simplistic reviews currently carried out in the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) assessments, with recommendations to consolidate or eliminate federal agencies. (See more about the CARFA Act.)

These proposals are all supported by good government rhetoric and appear initially to be technical proposals about the structure rather than the substance of government. The problem is that structural overhauls can be a technical cover hiding major substantive changes that will adversely affect the public interest. The most recent structural change proposed by the White House -- the controversial proposal to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant as we know it and combine it with other community development programs -- is a case in point. When combined in the proposed new "Strengthening America's Communities Grant Program," the old programs would have lost not only their distinctive character but also much of their funding: a 34 percent reduction, without adjusting for inflation. Subtle clues in the fiscal year 2006 budget submission -- referring to "focuse[d] resources" and a "targeted, results-oriented approach" -- indicated the White House also intended to change the direction and purpose of the original community development programs.

Creating the possibility of wholesale reorganization of the federal government is a particularly troubling idea given this administration's hostility to protections of the public health, environment, safety and public welfare. As we have documented elsewhere, the defining characteristic of the Bush administration to date is a special interest takeover of the federal government that is systematically dismantling public protections. While dismantling existing protections, the administration has also been building a record of allowing unmet needs to fester, in a larger pattern of failure to serve the public. Wide-ranging powers to reorganize and eliminate government programs may prove disastrous for the public health, safety, civil rights, environment and other public interest concerns.