Over the past few months, OMB Watch has been working closely with Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) on a bill to create a free, searchable database available to the public containing information on all federal spending - both grants and contracts. This legislation (S. 2590) continues to move forward in the Senate and OMB Watch remains strongly supportive of it (see the OMB Watch website for more information on the bill and to access previous coverage on this by OMB Watch. You can also read recent media coverage of the effort.) New Effort for Transparency and Disclosure Underway

According to Congress Daily (subscription req’d), the Senate Appropriations Committee will go to work this week: ...the panel [is] scheduled for a marathon session Thursday to consider legislation funding the lion's share of federal discretionary spending, or nearly 78 percent of the total $872.8 billion allotted to the panel for FY07. On tap are the Defense, Labor-HHS, Military Construction and Transportation-Treasury measures...

When the president repeats his mantra "cut the deficit in half by 2009", one could reasonably assume that the downward trend in deficits would continue past 2009 - as if "half in 2009" was a milestone of sorts. But, au contraire! The "half in 2009" is not a just a milestone but a turning point - the point where deficits start growing again. It’s right there in black and white in the president’s FY2007 budget, but it’s starkly absent in his speech. From page 223 in the Analytical Perspectives document of the President's FY 2007 Budget: (click on image for expanded view)

As the spender-in-chief pats himself on the back for managing to shirk the deficit to the fourth largest in U.S. history (via ThinkProgress), let’s take a look at a few things: 1. The surge in tax receipts is the result of a growing economy. Economic expansion is not dependent on tax rates. In fact, President Clinton raised taxes and the economy grew at what most would call a "good" pace. If marginal tax rates are 1% or 99%, an expanding economy will result in increased revenues.