Open, Accountable Government

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

Kennedy Says Min. Wage Hike Top Priority

Oct 23, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has promised (CQ-$$) the swift passage of a minimum wage bill if the Democrats take power. Prospective House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi has made a similar promise. Kennedy, who would be chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if the Democrats can gain six seats Nov. 7, said he would try to follow Pelosi’s example. While a Democratic-controlled House could easily pass a minimum wage increase, opposition from conservatives in the Senate would make quick action more difficult.

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Reporting Deficit

Oct 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The Washington Post ran a good article on the tax cuts and the deficit yesterday- lots of interesting quotes from credible folks with different opinions. Here's a great quote on the forces driving the lower deficit:

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"Cheaper" Suburban Housing Isn't

Oct 16, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The now-cooling housing market, which had been growing at rapid clip, priced a lot of housing outside the reach of many middle-class workers. Looking for affordable housing, a lot of families have opted to move further out into the suburbs looking for cheaper housing. This would seem like a solution to the problem of ever-increasing home prices. Maybe not (WSJ, $$): Moving to an area with lower housing costs often doesn't pay off for low-income Americans, according to a study to be released today by the Center for Housing Policy, a nonprofit research group based in Washington.

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FY 2006 Interest Expense up 23%

Oct 13, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Following up on a recent blog post by my colleague Matt on interest expense, I wanted to point out yesterday's report by the Treasury that the government's net interest payments on the national debt reached $226.6 billion in FY 2006, an increase of 23 percent over FY 2005. (See the Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9.)

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Lower Deficit=Eroding Middle Class?

Oct 12, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The President is mighty proud of the new deficit numbers. In fact, he called a press conference to say that the tax cuts he pushed have generated the surge in revenue that's partly responsible for the lower deficit this year. Hmmmmm. Well, corporate profits have gone way up, it's true. And he did cut taxes on corporate profits. There's a correlation there, for sure.

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Attention Deficit

Oct 12, 2006 by Craig Jennings

They must think we're not paying attention. Have a look at this statement, from an editorial in the Washington Post:

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Hundreds of Economists Call for an Increase in the Minimum Wage

Oct 12, 2006 by Craig Jennings

EPI has released a statement signed by over 650 economists calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage. As economists who are concerned about the problems facing low-wage workers, we believe the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005’s proposed phased-in increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 falls well within the range of options where the benefits to the labor market, workers, and the overall economy would be positive.

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$250 Billion FY2006 Deficit: Cause and Effect

Oct 11, 2006 by Matthew Madia

To follow up on Matt's discussion below of the final deficit figures for FY2006, I thought I'd point to some of the wildly disparate explanations offered for it. Says Speaker Hastert, whose credibility right now is not exactly at an all-time high: "Republicans have cut the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule because they know that tax relief fuels America's economy." President Bush added a corollary last night: "Do we keep taxes low so we can keep this economy growing, or do we let the Democrats in Washington raise taxes and hurt the economic vitality of this country?"

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Bush Celebrates $250 Billion Deficit

Oct 11, 2006 by Matthew Madia

President Bush on the Treasury's announcement that the FY 2006 budget deficit is $248 billion: First, I want to briefly mention that today we've released the actual budget numbers for the fiscal year that ended on September the 30th. These numbers show that we have now achieved our goal of cutting the federal budget deficit in half, and we've done it three years ahead of schedule.

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OMB Watch Launches FedSpending.org

For the first time, itemized information on the more than $12 trillion disbursed by the federal government between FY 2000 and FY 2005 is now available to the public on a user-friendly, searchable Web site. FedSpending.org, a project of OMB Watch launched Oct. 10, provides citizens with a detailed look at how the government sets national priorities and allocates federal resources.

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