Panel seeks to let citizens challenge agency info

A House subcommittee has endorsed a measure that would require the Office of Management and Budget to develop rules and regulations to allow the public to challenge information disseminated by federal agencies.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government approved the measure Tuesday as an amendment to the fiscal 2001 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who introduced the amendment, said new rules were necessary, especially in the Internet Age, so that people can make sure their voices are heard and that government studies not be treated as "fact."

But Democrats questioned the efficacy of the amendment, saying there was no way to enforce such a proposal. Many noted that much government data are already peer-reviewed and not in need of "challenging" by interest groups wanting to put out their own viewpoints on varying topics.

Subcommittee Chairman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., warned that the proposal was like "trying to kill a hammer with a fly" and noted that the White House would have serious problems with the language, as would the Senate. But that didn't stop the panel from approving it anyway, on a simple voice vote.

Afterward, Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Fla., wisecracked, "I'm happy the gentlelady got it passed because it shows that nebulous things can pass."