Government Information Roundup
Roe v. Wade, the Not Invisible Act Commission, and Accountability for the IRS Free File Program
Hi everyone,
There’s a lot in the way of government information news this week. Here are just a few highlights.
Roe v. Wade
A leaked Supreme Court draft decision this week confirmed long-standing concerns that Roe v. Wade is in danger of being overturned by the court’s conservative justice majority.
You can access the leaked document from Politico here. Also of interest is a statement released by United States Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, in which he reaffirmed his support for protecting abortion access and detailed recent HHS actions to advance reproductive rights.
Democracy Now released a report this week on the relationship between dark money networks and support for anti-abortion justices. I also wrote about this topic a few months ago in the context of election campaign financing - check the post out here.
National Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day
The Department of the Interior hosted a live-streamed event on May 5th to provide detail on the Not Invisible Act Commission, an advisory committee comprised of, according to this press release, “a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee composed of law enforcement, Tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered individuals, and most importantly — survivors.” View the webcast here to learn more about this effort led by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
U.S. Government Accountability Office Issues Report on the IRS Free File Program
Hopefully, you were able to finish and submit your 2021 taxes. I say “hopefully”, as it isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do! The IRS online tax filing tools are notoriously confusing, which is at least partially due to its noncompete clause with Free File Inc.
At the end of April, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report recommending that the IRS improve its free online tax preparation services. It’s an interesting read. You’ll see on the report under the “recommendations” section that the IRS agreed with some of the recommendations to improve user experience, it “did not agree with the other recommendations, including that it develop additional free filing options”. The state of the IRS’ digital services and relationship with the private sector is definitely something to keep an eye on over the next few years.
Let me know in the comments what else you saw in the news this week about government information!
See you next Sunday.
Excellent round-up! The info about the IRS and free filing options is particularly interesting/concerning.
Roe v Wade being overturned is good
Baby murder is bad
Even if it conviniences the mother.
Also Europe has outlawed abortion at a shorter period of time than US has (that hasn't outlawed it at all at a federal level)
Make abortion murder?
It's an argument