Here's an interesting piece of news out of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO): the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will increase federal budget deficits "something in the vicinity of $230 billion" over the next ten years. What was that pledge the GOP made to the American people before the midterms? It included something about bringing down deficits, didn't it?

Surprising almost no one, on Tuesday Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution (CR), funding government for another few months and delaying passing a budget for the 2011 fiscal year. Over the past week or two, it became obvious that Democrats did not have enough votes to pass a year-long budget of some kind, either as a CR or as an omnibus.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released an expanded and enhanced "National Analysis" of the 2009 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The National Analysis examines trends in toxic pollution and waste generation from thousands of facilities nationwide. This year, EPA has added several new features and new analyses that help the public track pollution and identify the biggest polluting companies. The improved National Analysis is another positive step in a series of actions EPA has taken to strengthen the TRI program.

On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Monthly Budget Review (MBR) for November. Two months into fiscal year (FY) 2011 and the federal government is $283 billion in the hole. The good news is that this deficit is $14 billion less than the shortfall the government experienced at this time last year. The continuing bad news is that budget deficits like this are going to continue well into the future. Oh, and according to the report, the economy is "strengthening," which is also good news.