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

CBO Projects Largest Deficit in History

Oct 8, 2008 by Craig Jennings

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The Cost of TARP, Dollars and Opportunity

Oct 7, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Stan Collender ponders the bottom line of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (AKA "TARP", AKA "Wall Street Bailout", AKA "financial rescue", AKA "Just Trust Us") and what it means for the next administration inthis week's Fiscal Fitness column.

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House Approves, Bush Signs Bailout Bill

Oct 3, 2008 by Craig Jennings

In a stark reversal of Monday's vote, the House approved the Senate-passed version of a financial market rescue bill.

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Timely CTJ Report Pushes for Reagan Tax Proposal

Oct 2, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Citizens for Tax Justice released a timely report yesterday examining the special tax breaks and subsidies that are currently handed out to Wall Street firms (and other companies). One in particular this report dissects is the special low rate on capital gains and dividends.

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Senate Approves Bailout; Cost "Impossible" to Predict

Oct 2, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Last night, the Senate approved a financial rescue (or Wall Street bailout) bill, HR 1424, by a 74-25 vote. As we noted yesterday, the package includes not only a provision that grants the Treasury Secretary $700 billion to purchase troubled financial assets, but also a package of tax cuts passed previously by the Senate.

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Interesting Perspectives on the Bailout

Oct 1, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

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Senate Attempts to Sweeten Bailout Bill

Oct 1, 2008 by Craig Jennings

If Monday's Wall Street bailout bill, which the House failed to pass, was, as House Minority Leader John A.

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Under the Radar: Congress Finishes FY 2009 Approps

Sep 30, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

With all the action recently on the financial sector bailout, it almost slipped our notice that Congress has finalized the FY 2009 appropriations process, at least through March 6 of next year. Last week, on Wednesday (Sept. 24), the House passed its package of three appropriations bills (Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction-VA), along with a continuing resolution (CR) that will cover all the other sections of the government until March 6, 2009. The vote was 370-58. The Senate passed the House proposal over the weekend on Saturday by a vote of 78-12.

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Next Move After House Fails to Pass Wall Street Bailout Uncertain

Sep 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Congressional leaders were left scratching their heads, contemplating what to do next after the House failed, by a vote of 205-228 to approve a $700 billion plan to buy up troubled financial assets that are purportedly threatening the financial markets.

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Updated Wall Street Bailout Plan Details

Sep 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

This post is an updated version of our previous post on a summary of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan that the House rejected (205-228) this afternoon.