Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

WP on Congress and Appropriations: Lame!

Dec 4, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Washington Post had a good editorial today on the unfinished appropriations bills.

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AMT Compromise: ADDENDUM

Dec 1, 2006 by Dana Chasin

New York Times tax and budget beat reporter David Cay Johnston, endorsed the general concept of ATM reform rather than repeal in his his book Perfectly Legal. Johnston indicated to us today that he hadn't heard discussion of any compromise solution that would mend AMT, not end it.

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AMT Compromise: A $200 Billion Pain Reducer

Dec 1, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Today, 3.5 million taxpayers file income tax returns under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). If the current AMT fix expires at the end of the year, the number will increase dramatically to 23.4 million in 2007 and to 32.4 million by 2010. If the Bush tax cuts are extended, 52.6 million taxpayers will pay the AMT in 2017. Amid a rapidly-growing bipartisan congressional consensus that the AMT's creep reaches into the middle class must be stopped, two solutions are propounded:

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Ornstein and Mann, to the Rescue!

Dec 1, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The dynamic duo of Ornstein and Mann have an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that's worth a read. Their highest-priority reforms to help make Congress functional again:
  • New ethics and lobbying rules, including an independent enforcement panel
  • 5-day work weeks and a minimum number of weeks in session
  • A return of regular order to bill votes, amendments, and debate

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Inter-Branch Exchanges at the Library Next Year

Dec 1, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The two guys from Harlem and Wall Street will meet in the Library of Congress next month when incoming House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson attend a daylong "bipartisan 'retreat' to find common ground on tax and trade policy."

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The 110th to Protect Credit Consumers?

Dec 1, 2006 by Craig Jennings

With the bursting of the real estate bubble and increases in interest rates, access to cheap home equity loans is drying up and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are taking up larger portions of homeowners’ take home pay. As household finances begin tightening, consumers will be increasingly reaching for their credit cards, and not just for big-ticket purchases like plasma TVs, but for more everyday expenses like food and utility bills.

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Contractors, FEMA Still Bungling Hurricane Relief

Nov 30, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Louisiana officials are fed up with a company contracted to administer a fund for rebuilding hurricane-damaged homes. The fund, called the Road Home Project, has $8 billion in it. But as of Wednesday last week, only 39 applicants had received anything from it -- 8 weeks after the fund got up and running. Governor Blanco has given ICF -- the contractor in charge of managing the fund -- until the end of month to issue payments to at least 10,000 applicants.

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That's No Anomaly -- That's My Lunch!

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Congress Daily ($) reported this afternoon that Congressional GOP leaders appear close to an agreement to extend the FY2007 Continuing Resolution (CR, discussed here, and here) until next Feb. 15. Aware that the longer the CR is extended (for reasons discussed here), the greater the likelihood that images of low-income housing assistance recipients out on the streets or schoolchildren going without breakfast and lunch would start playing out in the media:

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Opening up the Flood, Gates?

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Looking at the issues raised by Adam's blog below on the record-setting (estimated at $127-150 billion) emergency supplemental spending request expected from the Pentagon early next year, one wonders: where is the Congressional appetite for such spending expected to come from? In the face of:
  • renewed congressional interest in re-asserting and exercising oversight authority
  • heightened vigilance among budget hawks in Congress regarding the deficit
  • members' keen awareness of the Iraq war's vast and growing unpopularity among Americans

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Bush Still Loves Tax Cuts, Advisor Says

Nov 29, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Allen Hubbard, president of the National Economic Council (Bush's economic advisors), wrote to the Washington Post yesterday on a familiar subject- tax cuts (emph. mine). There is no denying that the president's tax cuts and other pro-growth policies have played an important role in spurring the economic expansion we've seen under this president. More than 6.8 million jobs have been created since August 2003; the unemployment rate is 4.4 percent; and real wages have grown 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. We've also proved that you can have tax cuts that result in robust revenue growth.

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