Ethics in Government

February 15, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown Emma Marsano

Newsletter

Climate and EnvironmentEthics in GovernmentGovernance

The Value of a Human Life, According to Economists

Last week a shocking story from NPR largely slipped under the radar. The headline: “Why the EPA puts a higher value on rich lives lost to climate change.” Climate Correspondent Rebecca Hersher shared the “twisted tale of math, ethics and climate change” that is the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to decide what’s been called the most important number you’ve never heard of: the social cost of greenhouse gases. 

February 08, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown Ananya Kalahasti

Newsletter

Corporate CrackdownEthics in GovernmentHealthRevolving Door

Will the White House Let Covid Vaccine Prices Skyrocket?

Since the early days of the pandemic, the federal government has been pre-purchasing Covid vaccines at an average cost of around $20 per dose (around $29 per dose for the bivalent boosters) to ensure public access to vaccination at no cost. However, with Congress no longer willing to fund Covid treatment, the Biden administration has indicated that it intends to end the Covid public health emergency in May, and more or less hand over control of Covid prevention to the healthcare industry.

February 03, 2023

KJ Boyle

Blog Post Department of JusticeEthics in GovernmentFOIATech

The Never-Ending Inquiry Into Susan Davies’ DOJ Employment

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has a FOIA problem. It’s been a two year struggle for the Revolving Door Project to uncover the complete picture of Susan Davies and her employment with the DOJ, and we’ve hit yet another road block because apparently the Office of Legal Policy (OLP) does not maintain personnel records of its own employees. At least, not for Susan Davies. And apparently the Office of Information Policy’s FOIA office wasn’t aware of that.

January 25, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown Emma Marsano

Newsletter

Corporate CrackdownEthics in GovernmentExecutive BranchHealthRevolving Door

Biden’s Choice of Chief of Staff Threatens Populist Potential

Last Friday marked the exact midway point of Biden’s presidential term. With this newly divided Congress, there are scant possibilities for legislation in the next two years. By and large, this next stage of Biden’s presidency should be all about the executive branch: implementing recent laws, enforcing existing laws, and enacting much-needed regulation. (Biden should have been overseeing these things all along, of course—that’s what the Presidency is for!)

December 21, 2022

Hannah Story Brown Andrea Beaty Dorothy Slater Dylan Gyauch-Lewis Julian Scoffield KJ Boyle Max Moran Timi Iwayemi Toni Aguilar Rosenthal

Newsletter Ethics in GovernmentExecutive BranchLarry SummersRevolving Door

RDP’s 150th Newsletter: Our 2022 Revolving Door Superlatives

How better to mark the darkest day of the year than with a bit of dark humor? This winter solstice, we present our 2022 Revolving Door Superlatives, where we spotlight the most craven, captured, and corrupt personnel and policy debates of this past year. From Revolver of the Year to 2022’s Worst Look to our Biggest Personnel Nightmare Entering 2023, we have a positively ghoulish assemblage of honorees for your perverse reading pleasure. Take comfort, dear reader, in this at least: the days are only getting longer from here on out. 

December 19, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Emma Marsano

HackwatchNewsletter

Climate and EnvironmentEthics in GovernmentHack WatchRevolving Door

Meet the former Biden Advisor Using “Climate Advocacy” as a Trojan Horse for Corporate Interests

With the Senate’s rejection of Senator Joe Manchin’s permitting reform legislation as a notable exception, last week was a bad one for fossil fuel disasters and corporate accountability. In Kansas, a Keystone pipeline leak caused the largest US crude oil spill in a decade. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, investigators found ongoing gas leaks in Equitrans’ pipeline storage facilities that released massive amounts of methane in November — enough to erase 50% of emission gains from US electric vehicles sales this year.