OMB?S Mid-Session Budget Review: Rosey Pays Another White House Visit

It comes as no surprise that the budget review issued by the Office of Management and Budget on July 19, 2002, shows a higher deficit for 2002 than predicted in its February 2002 report—from a $106 billion to a $165 billion deficit. In spite of the increasing deficit, OMB is optimistic about a quick return to budget surpluses in 2005, which are estimated to continue to increase over the next decade. In other words, according to OMB, this has been a rough time, but the President’s economic and fiscal policies, particularly the tax cut, insure that the long-term outlook couldn’t be better.

read in full

OMB Watch Opposes Bush Tax Cuts

OMB Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that seeks to promote government accountability and citizen participation, strongly supports the Fair Taxes for All Coalition in its opposition to the Bush tax cut proposal. The Bush tax cut plan is inequitable and too expensive. It will primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans and the cost will unwisely use up the budget surplus without properly investing in our future. In fact, the Bush tax plan is likely to cause actual cuts in important government services and activities that benefit us all.

read in full

'April Surprise' Turns Into July Fright As States Begin New Budget Year

Last Monday, July 1, marked the start of a new fiscal year for most states, many of which had to resolve large deficits after years of "April Surprises" -- the affectionate name given to the larger-than-expected influx of state income tax revenue each April 15.

read in full

Playing Chicken Over Social Security's Future

By now it should be obvious to everyone, including Congress, that it is not possible to adhere to the budget limits (caps) on discretionary spending and pass realistic spending bills for FY 2000, at least not without resorting to accounting gimmicks and trickery. Sticking to the caps means drastic and politically unfeasible cuts. This should be good news for advocates who have been arguing all along that staying within the budget caps would severely slash important spending needs, including education, health, environmental protection, housing, and a score of other beneficial programs, especially those upon which low to mid-income Americans depend.

read in full

Bumping Our Heads Against the Debt Ceiling

On June 28, the day Congress is planning to leave for the July 4 recess, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill has warned that the government will run out of money to pay its bills unless Congress increases the limit on how much the Treasury can borrow. This means parts of government, if not all of it, will no longer properly function, and government will default on its bills. This has been publicly described as a showdown between the Bush administration and Congress, but in fact it is really a showdown between Bush and the Republicans in the House.

read in full

A Resounding "No" to Estate Tax Repeal

On June 12, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) to make repeal of the estate tax, which under current law only expires for only one year, in 2010, permanent. Repeal advocates needed 60 votes to send the House-passed estate tax repeal bill on to the President for his signature, but only received 54 votes -- 44 Senators, including 2 Republicans, voted against repeal. This is even fewer votes than repeal proponents received in February on a non-binding .

read in full

Budget Process, October 1, And Tax Cuts

With the expiration of key Senate budget rules on October 1, tax cuts will get easier to pass.

read in full

RESOUNDING "NO" FOR PERMANENT REPEAL OF THE ESTATE TAX

The final vote this evening (June 12) on the Gramm amendment for permanent estate tax repeal was 54 for permanent repeal and 44 against -- clearly failing the 60-vote requirement. This represents a resounding victory against permanent repeal of the estate tax. Votes on the two Democratic reform amendments showed that there is a lot of support for reform, and means that we now need to move forward to talk about what a fair and reasonable reform would be. (The Dorgan amendment was 44 for and 54 against; Conrad amendment was 38 for and 60 against) (To be precise, these all were procedurally votes on waiving the budget rules to allow votes on the amendments--but effectively they were votes on the substance of the amendments.) Please check www.fairestatetax.org for updates this week.

read in full

Estate Tax Briefings

A successful nonprofit briefing on the estate tax was held on June 6. A press briefing to release the results of a nationwide poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research will be held Wednesday, June 12.

read in full

House Passes Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax (Again)

The House wanted its vote on Thurs. June 6th on permanent repeal of the estate tax (H.R. 2143) to send a signal to the Senate showing widening support for repeal. The vote did send a signal, though not the one the House had intended.

read in full

Pages

Subscribe to Federal Budget Policy (Articles and Blog Posts)