New Posts

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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Ohio Bill To Privatize Government Information, Services

An Ohio state legislator last month reintroduced legislation to force taxpayers to pay companies for services and information that taxpayers already receive more efficiently and cheaply directly through the government. An anti-government conservative group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, originally drafted the legislation and saw it introduced in at least five states in 2003. It previously failed in Ohio.

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Defense Department Seeks New FOIA Exemption

The Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking a broad Freedom of Information (FOIA) exemption, which would remove critical information from public purview -- everything from information on human rights abuses, to historical military records. The agency sought such an exemption in 2000, but Congress rejected the measure.

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National Security Whistleblowers Urge Better Protections

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition met with key congressional committee staff April 28, stressing the important role of whistleblowers that disclose security problems, and detailing the retaliation these individuals then encounter. On the same day, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) announced his intention to introduce legislation in the House to strengthen whistleblower protections.

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Chemical Security Remains an Unaddressed Problem

An April 27 panel of government officials and security experts told the Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that chemical security remains a looming problem that the federal government refuses to address. The same day the House Committee on Homeland Security proved that point by rejecting an amendment to improve security related to shipments of dangerous chemicals. Also the same day, President Bush called for development of new oil refineries on old military bases but did not address the existing gaps in chemical security.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Economic Recovery Still Shortchanging Workers

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States grew at a slower pace than expected during the first quarter of 2005 according to data released by the Commerce Department. At just 3.1 percent, it was the slowest rate of growth in over two years since the first quarter of 2003.

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Despite Public Disdain, Private Accounts Will Not Die

The issue of Social Security reform is gathering steam once again as President Bush wraps up his "60-cities-in-60-days" tour to sell his privatization plan to the public. Although the latest polls show more Americans oppose the president's proposal than ever, recent congressional hearings continue to keep the plan on life support.

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Connecitcut House Passes Minimum Wage Increase

The Connecticut House approved a measure late last week to increase the minimum wage to $7.65 an hour over two years, the Hartford Courant reported. The Democratic-controlled House voted 96-44, primarily along party lines, to increase the wage by 30 cents next year and 55 cents in 2007. Connecticut's $7.10 an hour minimum wage is one of the highest in the nation, slightly above the wage in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Many Republicans opposed the increase, saying it would hurt workers as small employers would cut back on hours and jobs to avoid rising labor costs. Supporters say the increase would help low-income families, many of which depend on minimum wage jobs. Lawmakers stated there are 39,000 families in Connecticut living on the minimum wage. "We're making it better for people who are just barely making it," said House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, a Democrat.

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Bush Talks to the Public About Social Security

In President Bush's news conference last night on energy and Social Security reform, he stated, "I know some Americans have reservations about investing in the stock market, so I propose that one investment option consist entirely of treasury bonds, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government." (the entire transcript can be read here. This statement is interesting given the fact that on his "60 day, 60 city tour" Bush spent much of his time discussing how the treasury bonds in the trust fund are little more than IOUs which the American people expect will be paid back by the government someday. He has been discrediting the trust fund as nothing more than IOUs, just last week he said, "You see, a lot of people in America think there's a trust, in this sense -- that we take your money through payroll taxes and then we hold it for you, and then when you retire, we give it back to you. But that's not the way it works. There is no "trust fund," just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay -- will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs." He has been criss-crossing the country saying this, yet last night said the trust fund has the full faith and credit of the United States Government. Bush spent much of his press conference discussing the need for responsible reforms to Social Security; reforms that he says won't cut benefits for people and that will keep retirees receiving benefits out of poverty. Yet in the same breath he says he believes the best way to do this is to have workers divert a percentage of their payroll taxes into a personal account. Hundreds of economists, policy analysts, and Social Security experts have come out over the last few months and said that personal accounts will add a level of risk to the benefits being paid to recipients. Bush is still trying to market a bad plan to the American people, yet disguising it as one that is both necessary and progressive. Private accounts are neither necessary nor progressive, and luckily, polls have shown that more and more Americans are believing this to be true.

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House and Senate Reach Budget Agreement

Today House and Senate budget negotiators came to an agreement on a $35 billion, five-year package of cuts in spending, after agreeing to trim the plan by about $6 billion. This agreement was made in large part because of objections voiced by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) concerning the size of Medicaid cuts, as well as the fact that those cuts would most likely grow in years to come. Smith sponsored an amendment in the Senate which stripped many of the entitlement cuts from the Senate's budget resolution. His amendment was passed by a margin of 52 - 48. The budget plan agreed to in conference assumes $843 billion of discretionary spending in FY 2006. It reduces the amount of money that the House Ways and Means Committee will have to cut in reconciliation from $6 billion to $1 billion. The budget plan also assumes $106 billion worth of tax cuts over the next five years, $70 billion of which are protected under reconciliation. This budget plan increases the already record-high deficit, and at the same time calls for more tax cuts for the wealthy. It cuts almost all funding for domestic programs by 1 percent, yet protects $70 billion worth of tax cuts in under reconciliation. Congress is effectively taking money from social programs that help the average American, and giving it out in the form of tax breaks to the wealthy. For more information on the budget agreement, click here and here. To read Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Director Bob Greenstein's comments, click here. For a CBPP analysis, click here.

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Bush News Conference On Energy and Social Security

Tonight at 8:30 PM (EST) the President will hold his first publicly broadcasted evening news conference since the start of his second term. At the news conference he will discuss plans for overhauling Social Security, and he will also discuss the high gas prices which have been plaguing the nation in recent months. Press Secretary Scott McLellan has noted that Bush will speak more specifically about his plans for Social Security reform than he has been. The President has been criticized by many for not speaking specifically enough regarding his exact plans for reform. During the conference Bush is also expected to urge Congress to pass his energy reform plan. High oil and gas prices are beginning to take a toll on the the level of national economic growth, as well as on Bush's approval ratings. Click here to read Sierra Club comments on his energy plan.

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Resources & Research

Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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