Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

Bush's FY2008 Budget: Guidelines and Laughlines

Feb 2, 2007 by Dana Chasin

David Broder's column in yesterday's Post, Deficit Day Of Reckoning? dutifully recounts the Democratic congressional leadership's guidelines for fiscal responsibility, sent to President Bush in a Jan. 26 letter. The letters urges that Bush's FY 2008 budget, due next Monday, Feb. 5:
  • account realistically for projected federal costs
  • realistically project short- and long-term deficits
  • provide detail throughout the entire budget period so that the choices required to meet the budget goals are clear

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Senate Approves Minimum Wage/Tax Cut Bill, 94-3

Feb 1, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This afternoon, after almost two weeks of floor debate and 200 filed amendments, the Senate passed S.2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, by a vote of 94-3. The bill comprises:
  • a set of increases in the federal minimum wage to be phased in in three stages, rising to $5.85 an hour 60 days after enactment, then to $6.55 an hour one year after that, and $7.25 an hour two years later

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Detailed Accounting of House-Passed FY2007 CR

Feb 1, 2007 by Dana Chasin

For a breakout of the funding levels in H. J. Res. 20 -- the $463.5 "CRomnibus" spending package passed by the House yesterday -- by Appropriations subcommittee, click here ($, unfortunately). And for a program-by-program accounting of the funding increases/decreases from FY06, enacted, click here ($).

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BudgetBlog on Technorati

Feb 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Technorati Profile

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Task Force to Examine House Rules

Feb 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

As promised, an outside panel will decide how to enforce the new House rules. The group will make recommendations by May 1 on such matters as the proposed Office of Public Integrity. Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner announced yesterday the bi-partisan eight member panel. Pelosi and Boehner each named four members and according to CQ ($) Representative Capuano (D-MA) will be chairing the panel.

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Bush's Health Care Plan and the AMT?

Feb 1, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Brad DeLong has a question about Bush's health care plan as described in the SOTU speech: A question. When George W. Bush said: [Although we are adding the value of health insurance contributions by employers to the income subject to personal income and payroll taxes, we are adjusting things so that] families with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on [the first] $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on [the first] $7,500 of their income...

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Congress Hearing Middle-Class Midterm Message

Feb 1, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Washington seems to have gotten the midterm message from middle-class voters. No less than three congressional committees held hearings yesterday on the economic plight of the American middle class. The problem, in a word, is "insecurity," caused chiefly by:
  • steadily declining real wage growth in the the middle class over the 25-30 years (see chart)
  • technological change
  • increased international competition
  • rapidly rising education costs
  • large-scale corporate downsizings

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Sawicky on Min. Wage Tax Bogusness

Feb 1, 2007 by Craig Jennings

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the minimum wage package today at 2:30 PM...but now's a good time to check out Max Sawicky's erudite take on the unnecessary tax cuts attached to the minimum wage bill. One key passage on the tax cuts, AKA the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 (SBWOA):

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That Settles It

Feb 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

President Bush on Congressional war powers, in an interview with an incredulous Wall Street Journal editorial board (emphasis mine): WSJ: There's a lot of discussion in Congress about putting caps on troop levels or defunding or saying you can't deploy, as commander in chief, troops in Baghdad. Do you think Congress has the constitutional authority . . . GWB: I think they have the authority to defund, use their funding power . . . WSJ: You do?

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House Passes $463.5 bn. FY2007 Spending Resolution

Jan 31, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This afternoon, the House passed its $463.5 billion "CRomnibus" spending resolution for FY2007 by a 286-140 vote. Approval by the Senate and the President are required to keep the government operating after Feb. 15.

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