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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Iraq Study Group: President Should Cease Emergency Funding Requests for War

Dec 7, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel convened to ascertain the Iraq war and recommend courses of action, released its report yesterday. Recommendation 72 of the ISG is that:

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Lame Duck Session Holds Little Hope for Appropriations Bills

The congressional lame duck session resumed Dec. 5 as the 109th Congress returned to work on a set of long-deferred tax and budget items. However, Congress will likely postpone action on the bulk of these issues until the next session and quickly pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will last until early 2007. The Budget

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CBPP: Hardship Higher Among Black and Latino Families

Dec 4, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has written up an analysis of the Census Bureau's survey of material hardship from 2003. Among the more startling findings:

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WP on Congress and Appropriations: Lame!

Dec 4, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Washington Post had a good editorial today on the unfinished appropriations bills.

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That's No Anomaly -- That's My Lunch!

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Congress Daily ($) reported this afternoon that Congressional GOP leaders appear close to an agreement to extend the FY2007 Continuing Resolution (CR, discussed here, and here) until next Feb. 15. Aware that the longer the CR is extended (for reasons discussed here), the greater the likelihood that images of low-income housing assistance recipients out on the streets or schoolchildren going without breakfast and lunch would start playing out in the media:

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"Emergency" Defense Bill Likely to be Anything But

Nov 29, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

More news coverage is out today on the enormous upcoming "emergency" appropriations request being developed by the Pentagon for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We previously posted (here, and here) about how the Pentagon is attempting to widen the scope of this funding request to include not only expenses related to the two wars, but anything that could be categorized under the "broader war on terror."

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Contractors to Face Increased Oversight in 2007

Nov 28, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Government contractors are preparing for additional oversight, tighter regulations and responsibility rules, and perhaps even a downturn in the size of future contracts due to the Democrats takeover of Congress in 2007, according to The Washington Post.

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A Cut in Every Program and A Hole in Every Stocking

Nov 21, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Now that a program-slashing continuing resolution is nearly a sure thing, agency administrators (and not advocates or politicians, mind you) are speaking out. From CongressDaily PM ($):

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Same Old Congress, Same Old Budgetary Gridlock: Long-Term CR Likely in December

Congress has made very little progress toward being able to finally adjourn for the year, leaving most of their appropriations work, a set of popular tax breaks, and funding problems in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program still unaddressed. With time running out, Congress will probably pass another extension of a budget-cutting continuing resolution, once again neglecting its duty to enact the annual spending bills.

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Continuing the Resolution ... into the New Year

Nov 21, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Congressional Quarterly ($) reports today that GOP leaders have decided to enact a long-term continuing resolution when they return to session in December, effectively pushing off their failed budget work onto the new Democratic Congress in 2007. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman, tacitly acknowledging the amount of homework heaped on Democrats' desks, said,

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