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

New Rule Likely to Cut Health Care for the Poor

Nov 10, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Bush administration is continuing its push to finalize hundreds of new regulations in an effort to cement its legacy before the new administration takes power on Jan. 20 next year. Also called "midnight regulations," these rules tend to get rammed through the regulatory review process before the lights go out on an administration, regardless of process violations or self-imposed cutoffs.

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Happy Birthday OMB Watch!

Sep 17, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

We'll be shutting down the BudgetBrigade a bit early today to head off to OMB Watch's 25th Anniversary celebration. Yup, that's right. OMBW is 25 years young this year and we're primed and ready for our quarter life crisis! We're taking some time to celebrate tonight with friends and supporters and remember 25 years of fighting for a more transparent and accountable federal government.

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Transparency Act Legacy Spreads to the States

Sep 4, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Ellen Miller blogs today over at the Sunlight Foundation about the legacy of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act). The Transparency Act mandated that all federal spending be easily accessible and searchable in the Internet. After the law passed in 2006, the federal government launched USASpending.gov in 2007, which was built on the software platform that powers OMB Watch's FedSpending.org. Ellen reports the legacy of this federal law is being felt at the state level, all over the country:

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CBO: Updated Social Security Projections

Aug 25, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new report with updated long-term projections for Social Security. This report is a follow up to the last projections for Social Security released by CBO back in December, 2007.

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CHN Hosting Prep Webinar on Census Poverty Data Release

Aug 18, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

On Tuesday, August 19, the Coalition on Human Needs is once again hosting a webinar to help advocates and analysts prepare for the release of annual data from the Census Bureau about poverty, income, and health insurance in the U.S.

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Bush Administration Backs Off SCHIP Restrictions

Aug 15, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it will not enforce new requirements that would have made it more difficult for states to enroll children in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). USA Today reports that the administration will not be taking "compliance action" at this time on regulations that would have forced states to wait until children are uninsured for one year before being covered by SCHIP and also require states to enroll 95 percent of extremely low-income children in the state before expanding health care coverage to only somewhat low-income families:

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Looking for Top Notch Interns!

Aug 13, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The OMB Watch Fiscal Policy Program is looking for an intern for the fall of 2008. Yup, that's right. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor at one of the most dynamic nonprofit watchdog groups in Washington, DC. We're looking for energetic undergraduate or graduate students who have excellent writing, critical thinking, and communications skills, and who are dedicated to public policy and government accountability (see current intern Josh at right for example).

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CBO Releases Monthly Budget Review

Aug 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their monthly budget review this morning. CBO Director Peter Orszag blogged on the release of the review on the CBO Director's Blog:

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Swing and a Miss on Canceling SCHIP Cuts

Jul 25, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Senate missed an opportunity this week to beat back a Bush administration policy that will keep low-income kids from receiving government insurance.

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Drug Manufacturers See $3.7 Billion Medicare Windfall

Jul 25, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The law that created the Medicare drug benefit, or Medicare Part D, mandates that Medicaid beneficiaries who were also eligible for Medicare ("dual eligibles") receive their drug coverage from the Medicare drug program rather than Medicaid. So, rather than be allowed dual eligibles to choose between two programs, when the new Medicare law went into effect, it shifted Medicare-eligible Medicaid beneficiaries into the new program. As it turns out, drug manufacturers benefited handsomely from the switch.

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