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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Mapping out the Post-Veto Supplemental Landscape

President George W. Bush and Congress are continuing their power struggle over policies related to the war in Iraq and a war funding bill containing a "goal" timeline for withdrawal of soldiers. Congress sent the funding bill to the president on May 1, the fourth anniversary of Bush's "mission accomplished" visit aboard an aircraft carrier, and he promptly vetoed it shortly thereafter. With the House unlikely to override a veto, Democrats in Congress are faced with the difficult task of finding a compromise in the next month.

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Congress Passes Troops' Funding; Now, the Veto Watch

Apr 26, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Senate has now voted, 51-46, to approve the $142.2 billion conference report (H.R. 1591; H Rept 110-107) fully funding the president's record-sized emergency supplemental war-funding request -- but with timetable goals for American soldiers' withdrawal from Iraq and billions of dollars in spending beyond his initial request. The House passed the conference report last night, and now it goes on to the president, who has promised repeatedly to veto it.

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Supplemental 2.0 -- Short-Term War Funding?

Apr 24, 2007 by Dana Chasin

What does Congress do for a yes-able encore, once Bush vetoes its full-funding of his record-sized war request? On the House side, senior Democrats are warming to the idea of passing a set of smaller war funding packages, akin to a sequence of CRs, providing money for as little as two months at a time. Yesterday, House Defense Appropriations chair John Murtha (D-PA) said it is likely the next step will be a two-month supplemental bill... but Senate leaders have yet to signal support for such an approach.

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Conferees Pass Supplemental, with Troop Restrictions

Apr 23, 2007 by Dana Chasin

House and Senate conferees have just approved a $124.2 emergency war spending supplemental conference report. The report adopts the Senate version of the supplemental, which set a goal of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008.

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Emergency Supplemental -- Color-Coded

Apr 20, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Last year, President Bush sent a $72 billion emergency supplemental war spending bill to Congress on February 16, 2006. He signed the bill 119 days later, on June 15, 2006. A year earlier, the dates were: February 14, 2005, Bush submits $82 billion supplemental bill; May 11, 2005, he signs it.

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Breaking - Doolittle Steps Down from Approps Committee

Apr 19, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), whose home was recently raided as part of an FBI investigation to his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has resigned his seat on the House Appropriations Committee. AP: Rep. John Doolittle, whose house was searched by the FBI in an influence-peddling investigation, said Thursday he will step down temporarily from the House Appropriations Committee.

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Question of the Day

Apr 19, 2007 by Dana Chasin

What remains now on the war funding front is to await the promised Bush veto of the record-sized supplemental appropriation bill Congress is expected to send to the president in the next week or so. Meanwhile, echoing the sentiment we expressed last week: Since the funding conditions may well, for all we know, end up as ignorable timetable "goals," it seems that the president is jumping the gun in issuing veto threats... Rep. James Moran (D-VA) asked this question yesterday:

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Withdrawal Date Debate: View from the Ground, Gates

Apr 18, 2007 by Dana Chasin

More than anything else, the sticking point in today's discussion about the war spending supplemental appropriations bill at the White House involved the timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers on the ground. President Bush and House Minority Leader Boehner (R-OH) argued con and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pressed the pro line, but those on the ground spoke loudest of all. As Bloomberg reported today:

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Supplemental II: Pelosi Mulls Senate Withdrawal 'Goal'

Apr 18, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly (CQ $) met with key House Democrats and members of the Out of Iraq Caucus Tuesday to discuss reconciling differences regarding Iraq troop withdrawal language in the House and Senate supplemental bills. According to a Democratic aide briefed after the meeting, "The [conference] committee will likely keep the [waivable House] readiness components but take the [non-binding] Senate language on goals" for a withdrawal date.

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Economic Policy Institute Panel Looks beyond Balanced Budget

A balanced budget can and does have a place in a responsible fiscal policy, but it is not the only element. That was the message presented April 12, when the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) hosted a panel discussion entitled "Beyond Balanced Budget Mania." Indeed, a strict concentration on balancing the budget could have deleterious effects on the economy, continue to leave health care out the reach of millions, and contribute to the ongoing decay of national infrastructure.

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