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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Congress Attempts to Wrap up Appropriations

With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching on Sept. 30, congressional leaders plan to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep government agencies funded through the end of October and allow additional time for appropriations work to continue. Although not a guarantee, the additional time should allow Congress to finish its appropriations work, preventing the need for an omnibus spending bill before the end of the year.

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Meet the New Recovery.gov

Sep 28, 2009 by Craig Jennings

...(mostly) the same as the old Recovery.gov.

The new Recovery.gov went online this morning, and it is...less than revolutionary. I've spent the morning poking around it and checking out the new features. Even though the really important stuff -- the recipient data -- will not be available until Oct. 15, I was hoping that the new site would significantly change the way Recovery watchers would be able to access Recovery spending data. This version, however, is not that site.

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TARP "Investment" May Not Pay Off

Sep 22, 2009 by Craig Jennings

A new report by GAO on Uncle-Sam-dependent AIG finds that the insurance giant is "stabilizing" due to the $182 billion in financial assistance from the Treasury Department and the Fed. However, the "the ultimate success of AIG’s restructuring and repayment efforts remains uncertain."

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Everyone Who Wants the Government to Continue Functioning, Say "Aye"

Sep 21, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

National Journal (subscription required) is reporting today that the House plans on taking up stopgap legislation on Wednesday to continue funding the federal government after appropriations for the year run out on Sept. 30.

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Are Agencies Slow to Spend Recovery Act Funds?

Sep 21, 2009 by Craig Jennings

ProPublica's Christopher Flavelle makes an interesting observation about Recovery Act spending to date.

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House Considers Scrapping Virtual Border Fence

Sep 18, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report yesterday before a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on the embattled Secure Border Initiative (SBI) program - a multi-billion dollar program designed to secure the U.S. borders. A subset of that program, called SBInet is supposed to be building a fancy, virtual fence along the U.S. southern border. The program, begun during the Bush administration, has consistently been behind schedule and over budget - and that's when the new technologies have worked at all. And now it looks like Congress may want to cancel the program altogether.

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Panel Begins Work on Dissecting the Financial Crisis

Sep 17, 2009 by Craig Jennings

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a 10-member, bi-partisan, group of congressional appointees charged with determining the causes of last year's financial markets meltdown will begin its work today. The crisis resulted in a $700 billion appropriations bill and trillions of dollars in loan guarantees from the Fed, and now the FCIC will put the events that lead to the systemic breakdown under a microscope.

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Public to See Recovery Act Data Oct. 15

Sep 14, 2009 by Craig Jennings

Updated below

The Nextgov blog Tech Insider is reporting that on the eve of All Hallows' Eve, the public will be treated with its first look at Recovery Act recipient report data. Recovery Board chief Earl Devaney has told Tech Insider that that the reports will become available after the 20-day correction and revision period allowed by the law to "mitigate[] the board's concern that large amounts of uncorrected data could actually harm transparency rather than enhance it."

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Independent Analysts Concur With CEA: Recovery Act Boosts Employment

Sep 11, 2009 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday, as per Recovery Act requirements, the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) released their quarterly report on the "impact of programs funded through [the Recovery Act] on employment, estimated economic growth, and other key economic indicators."

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OMB Watch Releases Recovery Act Transparency Status Report

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2009—This week, Recovery Act transparency will begin to take center stage. Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on stimulus spending, the Council of Economic Advisors will release its report on Recovery Act job creation, and the Government Accountability Office prepares to release its third bimonthly report on Recovery Act implementation and transparency. To highlight strengths and weaknesses of disclosure and accountability in Recovery Act spending, OMB Watch is releasing a comprehensive report on Recovery Act transparency.

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