We noted earlier today how horrendously misleading and downright incorrect Sen. Grassley's statement about the CBO August Update report was in great detail, but thought it might be appropriate to compile a list of summer reading materials Grassley - or perhaps more importantly his staff - could read to get themselves up to speed on the issue.

The Coalition for Human Needs just put up an excellent database of links to resources on Katrina and welfare reform issues. Take a look if you're interested in learning the latest about these milestones in the fight against poverty.

This week, CBO released its initially cheery-sounding report that the federal deficit for 2006 would shrink to $260 billion, from $318 billion last year, the lowest level since 2001. Of course, the gloomier long-term fact is that extending President Bush’s tax cuts beyond 2010 and accounting for war and other hidden costs would add $1.75 trillion in debt over the next 10 years and widen annual deficits by about $250 billion from 2011 through 2016.

Today, President Bush will sign another regressive tax cut into law. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I'm talking about the pension reform bill, which happens to not only fix some problems with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, but also makes permanent a handful of the temporary tax cuts passed in 2001. The Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the nonpartisan Brookings Institute and Urban Insitute, estimates that the tax cuts will save people in the top income quintile about $368 a year, while people in the bottom quintile get $8.