Federal Debt and Deficit

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

Bush Breaks His Record For Tiniest Budget Yet

Feb 6, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Since the president's FY 2009 budget request was mostly a rehash of old policies and proposals we've already spent time debunking in previous years, we've been looking for some new angles with which to view the president's budget. As I was sitting at my desk looking at the budget books in my office, the actual length of the main budget volume released this year jumped out at me. Or I should say, it didn't jump out at me. Turns out the main budget book for the FY 2009 budget is the shortest one ever released by the president. At 170 pages, it is more than 45 percent shorter than the average length of the budget book released each year by President Bush (which came in at 311 pages. Not sure what one can make of this change, particularly since the FY 2008 budget is also much shorter than the Bush average. This particular part of the president's budget proposal has evolved during the Bush administration to be a fancy, glossy, picture-filed advertisement for the administration's achievements and priorities, with little hard budgetary information. It is developed, I suppose, to help the administration put the best spin on their budget proposal and successes. I wonder if the Bush administration is tired of actively selling their misguided priorities, particularly in this final year and that is the reason for the shorter volume? Or perhaps they have realized they really don't have many budget achievements that they should be bragging about?

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Bush Weasels Out of Forecasting Another Record Deficit

Feb 5, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Had the president used realistic assumptions about economic growth in 2008, yesterday's headlines covering the FY 2009 budget request would have been: "Record Deficit Projected." Instead, the president chose to use a somewhat optimistic GDP growth rate of 2.7 percent, which produces a higher revenue forecast and subsequently lower deficit of $410 billion. If, on the other hand, the president chose to employ the CBO's numbers (GDP growth of 1.7%), the projected deficit for 2008 would have been a jaw-dropping $426.4 billion, significantly surpassing 2004's $413 billion deficit.

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Reactions to Bush's Budget Begin to Appear

Feb 5, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The day after President Bush released his $3.1 trillion budget for FY 2009, analysts and advocacy groups have begun to roll out reactions and statements on the proposal. Below are a few out so far: CBPP: Federal Grants to State and Localities Cut Deeply CBPP: The Dubious Priorities of the President's Budget FRAC: Statement on Nutrition Program Changes in Budget NWLC: Bush Budget Locks in Gains for the Rich, Short Changes Women and Families We'll post more statements and analyses as they are released. OMB Watch's overview of the budget will be released this afternoon in the next edition of The Watcher (Sign up here if you don't receive The Watcher).

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The President's FY 2009 Budget Request

Feb 4, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The president released his FY 2009 budget this morning. His $3 trillion request is a first, and it comes six years after another historical request - the first $2 trillion request.

Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2009

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CBO: FY08 Deficit Could Break All-Time Record

Feb 1, 2008 by Dana Chasin

BNA reported this morning that, what with galloping expenditures on the war in Iraq, an unanticipated expense in trying to head of recession with a stimulus package, and the reduction in corporate tax revenues from the economic slowdown, "we could easily hit a $500 billion deficit this year," according to the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That would far exceed the nominal record of $412 billion, set in 2004

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Bush Budget Expected to Cut Medicare, Medicaid Funding

Jan 31, 2008 by Craig Jennings

...while maintaining payments to insurance companies through flawed Medicare Advantage program Reporting in the International Herald Tribune, Robert Pear reports that the president's budget, which will be released Monday, will slash Medicare and Medicaid spending to an even greater extent than his FY 2008 request.

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More Bad News for State Budgets

Jan 31, 2008 by Craig Jennings

It seems things are getting worse out in the states, almost by the day. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released another update of their analysis first released last week, adding one more state (Illinois) to the list of states facing a budget crunch in 2009. Now there are 20 states that are projecting budget gaps in 2009. The updated summary stats from CBPP: More than half of states anticipate budget problems, according to this updated analysis of state fiscal conditions.

20 states now project budget gaps for 2009. Illinois joins this list.
The combined budget shortfall for these 20 states in 2009 is now at least $34 billion.
5 states now say they will have 2009 deficits, but have released no further information.
3 other states project budget gaps for 2010 and beyond.

CBPP: 20 STATES FACE TOTAL BUDGET SHORTFALL OF AT LEAST $34 BILLION IN 2009

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Projections of State Budget Shortfalls Deteriorate

Jan 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released an update to their analysis last week, which now shows more than half of the states are facing a budget crunch in 2009. As we've commented, this isn't good news, as state budgets are far less flexible than the federal budget and usually are legally prohibited from running a deficit. From the CBPP update: More than half of states anticipate budget problems, according to this updated analysis of state fiscal conditions.

19 states now project budget gaps for 2009. New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin have joined this list since our last update
The combined budget shortfall for these 19 states in 2009 is now at least $32 billion.
6 states now say they will have 2009 deficits, but have released no further information.
3 other states project budget gaps for 2010 and beyond.

CBPP: 19 STATES FACE TOTAL BUDGET SHORTFALL OF AT LEAST $32 BILLION IN 2009

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State of the Union: What To Watch Out For

Jan 28, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Two Old Chestnuts, This Time With Meaning President Bush's last State of the Union (SOTU) tonight may be a sorry story of a slumping economy and a surge most striking in its slowness. He may set out a litany of missions unaccomplished, dressed up as ambitious agenda items for his final turn -- not. Reprise his failed attempts to revamp Social Security and overhaul immigration rules? uh-huh. More likely he will set the bar low, and focus on low-hanging fruit, easily achieved but of little real import.

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Printer(?)

Jan 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Did the CBO goof or did it change the naming convention for its annual 10-year outlook report? Last year (Jan. 2007), the CBO released "The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2017." This year (today, in fact), the CBO released "The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018." What's going on? Both reports cover the same forecasting window, so that hasn't changed. My first scan of this year's report hasn't caught a note explaining the difference in naming convention. Anyone out there care to venture a guess?

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