Appropriations

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

Federal Meat Inspectors Spread Thin as Recalls Rise

Mar 5, 2008 by Matthew Madia

The federal regulator of meat, poultry, and egg products, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), faces resource limitations that make it more difficult for the agency to ensure the safety of the food supply. Although the agency's budget has risen since it was created, staffing levels have dropped steadily, according to a new article by OMB Watch. Widespread vacancies in the agency have spread FSIS's inspection force too thin. Meanwhile, the number of meat, poultry, and egg product recalls has risen, and a recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef is the largest in the nation's history.

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New Medicaid Rules May Cost States Triple Administration Estimate

Mar 4, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats released a report detailing the effects of the Bush Administration's Medicaid rule changes (one went into effect on Monday while several others are pending). According to the report, the new rules would cost state governments a total of $50 billion over five years - over three times the administration's $15 billion estimate. The report is the product of the House committee's request to states to estimate their expected federal funding losses due to the proposed Medicaid rule changes.

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FY 09 Budget Resolution: Goals, Strategies, and Challenges

The House and Senate Budget Committees will soon turn to the congressional budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2009. The draft versions of the budget resolution, to be offered by House Budget chief Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) and Senate Budget head Kent Conrad (D-ND), are likely to be considerably different from President Bush's unrealistic budget proposal submitted to Congress in February.

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Federal Meat Inspectors Spread Thin as Recalls Rise

The federal regulator of meat, poultry, and egg products, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), faces resource limitations that make it more difficult for the agency to ensure the safety of the food supply. Although the agency's budget has risen since it was created, staffing levels have dropped steadily. Widespread vacancies in the agency have spread FSIS's inspection force too thin. Meanwhile, the number of meat, poultry, and egg product recalls has risen, and a recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef is the largest in the nation's history.

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Impact of Fed Budget Cuts in GA Hits Home

Mar 4, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Macon Telegraph ran an article yesterday about how federal budget cuts are imperiling a drug/violent crime prevention program called the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program. This program gives grants to states to establish state and regional drug task forces that form partnerships between area sheriffs offices and local police departments. And the program has been particularly successful in Georgia. Sen.

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Early Bird Nussle Makes a Play for the Worm

Mar 3, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Getting Bush's veto-threats out early, OMB Director Nussle promises Bush will veto...well pretty much anything that wasn't written by the president.

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The $3 Trillion War

Mar 3, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee on Thursday, Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz said that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost more than $3 trillion. Stiglitz's testimony is based on research that was released as a book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, on Friday. Coauthored with Harvard University professor Linda Bilmes, the book estimates that when interest expenses on the deficit spending used to finance the war and other costs, like health care benefits for wounded veterans, are calculated, the wars' costs could range from $5 to $7 trillion. McClatchy:

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House Investigates Status of Contracing Reforms

Feb 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

More news on the contracting front this week (in addition to Craig's post earlier today). The House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement held a hearing on the status of government contracting reform (here's a Government Executive article summarizing the hearing). Contracing expert and all around good guy Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, testified during the hearing on efforts to bring more competition, oversight, and transparency to the contracting process. You can read his excellent testimony to the committee regarding a number of pending pieces of legislation as well as the recommendations of the Federal Acquisition Advisory Panel on POGO's website.

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Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Questions Value of Contractors

Feb 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on defense contracting. It turns out that at least one contractor in Iraq - one receiving hundreds of billions of dollars from the government - is slightly less than "cost effective."

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Another Stimulus Package May Be Included in Budget Resolution

Feb 28, 2008 by Craig Jennings

...and designated "emergency" CongressDaily is reporting ($) that Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) may include another round of stimulus spending in the budget resolution. The budget resolution will include a separate $35 billion economic-stimulus bill that will be made up of an unemployment insurance extension, a temporary increase in food stamps and low-income heating assistance. Conrad said the stimulus bill will not be offset. The budget resolution will designate the stimulus bill as emergency spending.

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