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

Oct 3, 2007 by Craig Jennings

This week's Samuelson Watch is outsourced to Matthew Yglesias:

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Oct 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

It hasn't been reported yet, but we're hearing that Bush has vetoed the SCHIP bill. Update: Here's the AP story. Update: The House may vote to override the veto on October 17th.

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The Ball Is In Your Court, Mr. President

Oct 2, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The SCHIP reauthorization has been sent to the President for his signature. Will he help give 4 million more children health insurance, or will he try to deprive them of it? Well, don't just sit there. Tell the President to sign it!

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What's Next For SCHIP?

Oct 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Now that the same children's health insurance bill (SCHIP) has been passed by both the House and Senate, what's happening next? Well, for one, Congress hasn't sent the bill to the President yet for his signature. That will most likely happen tomorrow. Then, the President, making good on his many promises, will probably veto the bill immediately. He'll probably try to keep it quiet. He's a little embarrassed that he's denying children health insurance.

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The Drumbeat For Benefit Cuts

Oct 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The drumbeat for "entitlement reform," a euphemism for Social Security and Medicare cuts, has been getting louder. The main drum circle comprises the Washington Post's editorial board, the Senate Budget Committee, and the Bush Treasury Department. When they want to, they can make a frightful lot of noise. Thankfully, Dean Baker is around to check the facts.

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Another Doosy by David Brooks

Sep 28, 2007 by Matt Lewis

David Brooks has a lyrical but vague and pretty misleading column about the entitlement crisis today, and in a feat of rhetorical flexibility connects it to SCHIP. Two problems: as Dean Baker says, the bottom line of the entitlement crisis is health care inefficiency. There is no legitimate centrist "share the sacrifice" position, and it has nothing to do with Social Security. Even CBO director and former Hamilton Project leader Peter Orszag agrees with Baker on the cause of the problem!

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College Loan Bill Enacted

Sep 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The President has signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (summary)! The act gradually raises the maximum Pell Grant, which helps low-income students pay for college, to $5,400 by 2012, from $4,050 in 2006. And it cuts interest rates in half for subsidized college loans over the next five years. The nearly $20 billion in new funding is all paid for without tax increases, because the bill cracks down on excessive subsidies to the student loan industry.

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SCHIP Gets Cloture

Sep 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The SCHIP expansion just got cloture (meaning it can't be filibustered and will get an up or down vote) on 69-30 vote (roll call). That's a veto proof majority! The vote on passage should be coming up shortly. Plus, get this (emph. mine): However, Democrats -- and their Republican allies on the issue -- made clear Bush's veto will not be the last word on the measure. They said they will keep coming back to the bill every six weeks to three months until either the White House relents or Republican opposition collapses.

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Senate SCHIP Vote Imminent

Sep 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate will vote on the SCHIP bill probably in a matter of hours- don't forget to call/email your Senator.

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Is PAYGO Sinking the SCHIP?

Sep 27, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Donny Shaw at the invaluable OpenCongress.org had an interesting interpretation of the SCHIP vote in the House: When the Democrats took over Congress in January, they passed new, hardcore budgeting rules known as PAYGO that require them to account for any spending increase by creating an equal increase in revenue elsewhere. With SCHIP, their fiscal heroism proved bittersweet; the revenue increase proposal they agreed upon ended up costing congressional Democrats the critical Republican votes they needed to get their proposal enacted.

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