Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

Mid-Session's Muted Myopia

Jul 19, 2007 by Dana Chasin

In its Mid-Session budget review last week, the White House ballyhooed the good "news" that the FY 2007 federal budget deficit projection was down from OMB's original February forecast of $244 billion to a revised $205 billion. But looking out the next five years, the muted Mid-Session story is of unmitigated worsening news on the deficit front. The deficit projected for FY08-FY12 was actually higher than what was originally forecast -- by $137 billion.

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Another Reason to Support a Tobacco Tax Increase

Jul 19, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Big Tobacco is against it. On Monday, the parent company of four tobacco companies, Reynolds America, issued a press release in which they decry the notion that Congress needs more people to smoke in order to fund an SCHIP expansion. "Policy makers will somehow need to recruit new smokers if they insist on using the tobacco tax revenue to support SCHIP at proposed funding levels over the long term," wrote Heritage Foundation authors Michelle C. Bucci and William W. Beach.

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Coalition of the Billing

Jul 18, 2007 by Dana Chasin

OK -- quick: how many folks are serving Uncle Sam in Iraq right now? 150,000? 200,000? Try 340,000. How's that? Per the Los Angeles Times: More than 180,000 civilians -- including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis -- are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Including the recent troop surge, 160,000 troops and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq.

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Committee Approves Bill to End IRS Privatization Program

Jul 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved HR 3056- the legislative package that will end the IRS private debt collection program- by a vote of 23 to 18. Great! This morning, the Joint Committee on Taxation released its interpretation of a Chairman's amendment to the bill. if passed, it will not affect contracts that have already been issued to private debt collectors. That sounds fair, as the debt collectors who have contracts might take a loss if the program is ended wholesale.

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Will Union Growth Require More Than the Employee Free Choice Act?

Jul 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

An interesting article on unions, via the great blog Economist's View. Its thesis is that the decline in unionization is a product of a wide array of legislative and regulatory changes. The upshot is that much more than laws like the Employee Free Choice Act may be necessary to substantially increase union membership. Even more interesting, the article finishes with the dreaded "e" word (exploitation) as the basis of promoting unionization.

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Private Debt Collection Fables

Jul 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

A favorite canard put forward by the defenders of the IRS private tax collection program is that there's no other way to collect these taxes (watch a hearing on the issue here). If Congress gave IRS the resources it needed to pursue these cases, IRS administrators would instead direct the money to functions that would yield a greater return-on-investment.

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Nussle Senate Confirmation Hearing Schedule Set

Jul 18, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The schedule of confirmation hearings for former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), the president's pick to replace Rob Portman as OMB director is as follows:
  • Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chair): Tuesday, July 24, 10 a.m.
  • Senate Budget Committee (Sen. Kent Conrad, chair): Thursday, July 26, 10 a.m.

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DeMint Putting Senate's Summer Vacation on "Hold"?

Jul 17, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is apparently single-handedly holding up the Senate's lobbying and ethics reform bill with a hold keeping it from going to conference over a pet provision that he wants guaranteed will be included in the conference committee's final version.

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Approps Update

Jul 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

  • The House washed its hands of Energy-Water when they voted 312-112 to pass the $31.6 billion bill.
  • Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee handed its bill off the to Senate Appropriations Committee
Also: President Bush continues his Gregorian-esque chanting as he issues another veto threat. This time, he takes a swipe at Labor-H's massive $2 billion excess [/sarcsm] of his requested level and its language on matters related to reproductive health. The view from the outside:

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Stop the Presses: Bush Objects to Obey Cuts

Jul 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Social Spending to Stimulate the Publishing Sector? Man bites dog: the administration is balking at some cuts that House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. David Obey (D-WI) has made made to the Labor-HHS bill. A brand new veto threat of that bill, issued today, reads in part: The Administration strongly opposes the $629 million reduction in the Reading First program. While the Administration recognizes the significant issues outlined in several Inspector General reports, the Department has addressed these problems and implemented all the IG's recommendations.

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