Entitlements

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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more news

Senate Schedules Floor Vote for Nussle

Aug 7, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced that the Senate will vote on the nomination of Jim Nussle to be the new Director of the Office of Management and Budget on Monday, September 4 - the first day back from the August recess. Reid announced there will be three hours of debate on the nomination beginning at 2:30 pm. One hour each for the chairman and ranking member of the budget committee, and one hour controlled by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders has announced a hold on Nussle's nomination because he has serious concerns about the nominee and his philosophical differences with the administration's fiscal policies. Sanders said: President Bush is completely out of touch with the economic realities facing working families in America. Bush needs to hear the truth, not an echo. He needs a budget director who will make him face the facts, not fan his fantasies.

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Krugman Hits One Out Of The Park

Aug 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Paul Krugman has a must-read, or maybe a I-highly-recommend-you-read-it column today. You can get it for free over at Economist's View. It begins: It's been a good Democrats, bad Democrats kind of week. The bill expanding children's health insurance that just passed in the House makes you want to stand up and cheer. Reports that Senator Charles Schumer opposes plans to close the hedge fund tax loophole make you want to sit down and cry.

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Samuelson Watch (Cont'd)

Aug 1, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Matt did a good job this morning of giving the business to Robert Samuelson. Economist/blogger Mark Thoma weighs in as well for good measure. Thoma makes the critical point:

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Heritage Seriously Concerned About Fiscal Responsibility- NOT!

Aug 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Heritage Foundation just put out a report on the fiscal responsibility-ness of the Senate's SCHIP bill. It's stupid, but it begins with the fair point that the legislation would sunset, in 2013, the funding increases it would set up.

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Robert Samuelson Is A Ruthless, Government-Hating Machine

Aug 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Robert Samuelson has yet another ridiculous column on the long-term fiscal gap. Here's a list of the things I don't like about it (in order of importance):

He excludes OMB Watch from a list of think tanks he'd invite to an intense think-session on the long term fiscal problem.

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OMB Watch: Support SCHIP Expansion

Jul 31, 2007 by Matt Lewis

OMB Watch has put out letters urging support for the SCHIP expansion bills now moving in the House and Senate.

Senate letter
House letter

The Senate bill will probably get a vote either today or tomorrow, while the House will probably vote either tomorrow or Thursday.

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Health Care's False Choices

Jul 30, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Merrill Goozner, a health economist/journalist, gets deep responding to an article on the unevenness of cancer treatment. A few of his thoughts on one cancer drug:

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Farm Bill Goings-On

Jul 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Congress is rushing to get lots done before its August recess. The Farm Bill is one of the bills Congress is working madly on. The entire House will probably vote on it today. The Farm Bill essentially sets the federal government's agricultural policy- crop subsidies, farmland conservation payments, bioenergy, and anti-hunger programs, like Food Stamps. It needs to be renewed every five years.

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House SCHIP Markup Proceeding

Jul 26, 2007 by Matt Lewis

After some delay, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is now marking up the SCHIP reauthorization and expansion. Some resources on the bill:

A summary of the chairman's mark
A section-by-section analysis
CBO's preliminary score
Families USA's chart that compares the House bill with the Senate version.

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House Reaches Agreement on SCHIP

Jul 25, 2007 by Matt Lewis

House leaders have an agreement on their version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization and expansion, reports BNA (subscription req'd) today. The House Energy and Commerce Committee should approve the package on July 25th, and the House Ways and Means Committee on July 26th. The entire House is expected to vote on the bill by late next week- the Senate is expected to vote on their package this week. There are three major differences between the Senate and emerging House bill:

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