Spending Transparency

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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CBO Monthly Budget Review, March 2010

Apr 9, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

Chalk up another set of economic data under the category of "information most informed people knew a long time ago, but that will really upset the Teabaggers," because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Monthly Budget Review (MBR) for March, and, oh boy, are there some ugly numbers in there to cherry pick. With that said, there are some bright spots too.

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Treasury's Rush to Sell Citigroup Shares Could Cost Taxpayers

On March 29, the Treasury Department announced that it would begin selling the 7.7 billion Citigroup shares it owns, which represent the government's 27 percent stake in the company. The move is the most significant step Treasury has taken so far in the long process of winding down the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Since selling the stock will generate more than $30 billion, a profit of at least $7 billion, many news reports are claiming it proves the bailout was a "great business" for the government. However, Treasury’s sale may be in conflict with one of TARP’s statutory goals: maximizing taxpayer returns.

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Deficit Commission Gridlock Set to Begin April 27

Mar 31, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

According to a Bureau of National Affairs article (subscription required) from earlier today, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the 18-member panel created by President Obama to devise strategies for reducing the nation's debt and deficits, have sent a letter to members informing them that the panel's first meeting will commence April 27. Formally known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (NCFRR?), the panel has a disastrously devised procedural process that is likely to produce either gridlock or, at best, water downed recommendations.

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Deficit Commission Line-Up Completed

Mar 25, 2010 by Craig Jennings

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) named her picks to sit on the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (or, just "the Deficit Commission" or "the Debt Commission"), she rounded out the 18-member slate.

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Commentary: Why Discretionary Budget Caps Are Fiscally Irresponsible

With many families around the country facing financial hardship, fiscal hawks on Capitol Hill have begun ramping up their rhetoric: If America's families are forced to make hard decisions and cut back, they argue, why shouldn't their elected leaders do the same? During the week of March 15, Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced an amendment to H.R. 1586 that aimed to give teeth to that rhetoric. The amendment's effects on the nation's long-term debt would have been minimal, while its impacts on millions of Americans would have been severe. The amendment ultimately failed on the Senate floor.

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Senate Rejects Arbitrary Budget Caps

Mar 18, 2010 by Sam Rosen-Amy

Thanks in no small part to the 1,146 emails you sent in the past 48 hours, the Senate just voted down the Sessions-McCaskill amendment, which would have instituted draconian discretionary budget caps for the next three fiscal years. The amendment lost on a 56-40 vote, failing to reach the 60-vote margin it needed by only four votes.

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Keep the Pressure on the Senate

Mar 17, 2010 by Craig Jennings

We're hearing that the vote on the Sessions-McCaskill amendment will happen today at 5 (EDT). If you haven't done so yet, send a letter to your Senators and tell them that arbitrary limitations on federal spending is terrible budget-making. Take action now!

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Tell the Senate to Vote No on Disastrous Discretionary Spending Caps

Mar 16, 2010 by Sam Rosen-Amy

In what looks like an attempt to out-fiscal-hawk President Obama, Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have introduced an amendment that would impose strict limits on discretionary spending for the next three years. The amendment sets limits far lower than Obama's already low budget proposal, and it even includes a cap on defense discretionary spending, something the President's proposal does not do. Such caps would result in drastic cuts to many vital economic safety net programs and public protection agencies, negatively impacting the lives of millions of Americans. And while the two senators claim that the amendment will reduce the deficit, in reality, because discretionary spending is so little of the federal budget, the amendment's deficit-reducing effects will be minimal.

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CTJ Shows Tax Proposals in Rep. Ryan's 'Roadmap' Lead to Disaster

Mar 10, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

In a report released yesterday, Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) critically examine the tax policies proposed recently in Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget alternative, conventionally titled, "A Roadmap for America's Future." Claims of the proposal "balancing the budget" and "reforming entitlements" have already been thoroughly debunked, but CTJ has contributed a valuable analysis of the young Republican's tax policies, which will actually cost the government "$2 trillion over a decade even while requiring 90 percent of taxpayers to pay more" than they already do in taxes.

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CBO Scores Obama's Budget

Mar 5, 2010 by Sam Rosen-Amy

I know everyone's been distracted lately with health care, the Olympics, and the last season of Lost, but the budget process has been churning away silently these past few months. While we await Congress' budget resolution on April 15, the Congressional Budget Office decided to remind us all that the process is still moving ahead by releasing an analysis of the President's budget, one which is significantly less rosy than the President's estimate.

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