Security and Secrecy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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CTC Appropriations in Holding Pattern

Appropriations for CTCs-- currently tagged at $80 million under VA-HUD-- have not progressed since late summer. As of this writing, the Senate has only passed 7 out of its 13 spending bills, three just made it out of committee but have yet to be voted upon, and two have not made it out of committee. More significantly, only one-- Interior appropriations-- has actually been reported out of its House-Senate conference committee. No other appropriations bill has made it to House-Senate conference yet.

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U.S. Dept. of Education CTC Program Issues Request for Proposals

The U.S. Department of Education has announced a new round of grants under its Community Technology Centers program. Proposals are due July 16, 2001. There is a reported US$32 million available for U.S. community technology centers under this program. Nearly 200 one-year grants, between US$75-300,000, are available for groups meeting the eligibility guidelines. The grants will be for one year. Cost sharing of 30 percent is required.

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Senate Votes on CTC Appropriations

On June 30, 2000, the Senate voted on its FY 2001 Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations bill, amending the House bill, which includes the federal CTC program under the Department of Education.

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House Votes on CTC Appropriations

On June 14, 2000, the House of Representatives voted on the FY 2001 Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations bill, which includes the federal CTC program under the Department of Education. The bill passed 217 to 214. The bill included the House Appropriations Labor, HHS and Education Subcommittee recommendation for current-level for funding Community Technology Centers at $32.5 million, which is $67.5 million less than the Department of Education's request of $100 million.

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Bush FY 02 Budget and Community Technology Centers

The FY 02 budget proposes to shift the federal Community Technology Centers (CTC) program, housed under the US Department of Education's Office of Adult and Vocational Education, to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Community Development Block Grant program.

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CTC Appropriations Move on the Hill

Congress has returned to work this week, and among the many items on their plate are the 11 unfinished appropriations bills that must be passed before the scheduled adjournment date of October 6. On June 30, the Senate voted on its FY 2001 Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations bill, which is where the Department of Education's CTC program funding rests. The Senate, voting 52 to 43 in favor of the bill, recommended funding for CTCs at $65 million.

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Senate Authorizes Creation of 1,000 CTCs

Last week the Senate took action to create 1,000 community technology centers (CTCs) to be funded through the Department of Education.

On May 9 the Senate approved, by a vote of 50-49, an amendment by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to the Elementary and Secondary Education bill. The bill authorizes $100 million to go towards creating and expanding 1,000 CTCs. The education bill is expected to pass the Senate. and will await House action before a conference occurs.

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CTCs Proposed Under VA-HUD Appropriations

On 7/30/01 the House passed its VA-HUD spending bill, on a roll call vote of 336-89. The Senate passed its VA-HUD appropriations bill on 8/2/01, by a roll call vote of 94-5. Both the House and Senate bills call for $80 million for community technology centers (CTCs), under the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program, in the form of grants to create or expand CTCs in high poverty urban *and* rural communities and to provide technical assistance to those centers.

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CTCs Pass First Appropriations Hurdle

On May 10, 2000, the House and Senate Subcommittees on Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations did their markup of the FY 2001 appropriations for the Department of Education, which is where the federal CTC program rests. The House Subcommittee recommended current-level funding for Community Technology Centers at $32.5 million and the Senate subcommittee recommended $62.5 million. This is encourgaing news as it looks like the program will not get less than $32.5 this year. The House mark, however, identifies CTCs as an unauthorized program. Technically, Congress is not supposed to appropriate funds to programs that have no authorization (although this is regularly violated). The budget resolution requires the appropriations committees to provide this information.

The full table showing the House and Senate Subcommittee amounts for the Department of Education programs is available online in Adobe PDF format: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/ 01hs.pdf

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CTCs Pick Up Steam on the Hill

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) were the first House members to explicitly put in a request for the $100 million for CTCs in their appropriations "wish lists," in support of the Clinton Administration's request.

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