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

Congress to Terminate Invaluable Data Collection Program

Jun 20, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Does welfare reform work? Do food stamps really feed the needy? Are government assistance programs really helping those in need? How effective is our social safety net? Congress certainly doesn’t want to know. Right now, the House Appropriations Committee is considering a Bush recommendation to terminate a program designed to answer these questions.

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Line-Item Veto Act on Congressional Agenda

Jun 19, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Tomorrow the Senate Budget Committee will be marking up the Legislative Line Item Veto Act. On June 15, the House Rules Committee approved legislation (H.R. 4890) that would give line-item veto power to President Bush, in an 8-4 party-line vote.

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$94.5 Billion Emergency Spending Bill Headed To President's Desk

Jun 15, 2006 by Craig Jennings

This morning, the Senate voted on and approved $94.5 billion in emergency spending for FY2006 to pay for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Hurricane Katrina Relief. The hotly contested bill, held up by, among other things, the president’s last-minute border-security funding request, was finally approved by the Senate after it caved in to demands from Bush that the bill not exceed $95 billion. On Tuesday, the House approved the conference report, and the bill is now ready for the president’s signature.

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After Five Years of War, Spending May Not Be Considered "Emergency"

Jun 15, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Picture this, if you will: A hurricane levels your house and you have to move into an apartment while your home is repaired. You are also a reasonable, sane, and mathematically competent homeowner who can budget living expenses appropriately. When you created your budget that year that the hurricane destroyed your home, you (rightfully) did not include in your budget a line-item for mortgage payments and rent. Let’s also imagine that you’ve had problems getting your home repaired due to unexpected problems with your contractor, various building codes, material shortages, etc.

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House, Senate Reach Agreement on Supplemental

Jun 9, 2006 by Guest Blogger

After reporting yesterday that the House and Senate had yet to reach a compromise on the supplemental spending bill, they did in fact reach one last night. The $94.5 billion bill to fund the military and hurricane relief also sets the budget spending cap for the Senate at $873 billion (the Senate, remember, had orignally passed a budget resolution allocating $16 billion more in funding, mostly for human needs programs). A number of Senators wanted to boost the cap to $880 billion, but were unable to do so because of resistance from the White House and the House leadership.

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Iraq Supplemental Delayed Over Discretionary Cap Disputes

Jun 8, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The FY 2006 emergency supplemental bill to fund war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan was held up this afternoon because of a dispute over where the Senate should set the discretionary spending limits for FY 2007 appropriations bills. According to CQ Today, a spokeswoman for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) "confirmed that a resolution 'deeming' a Senate fiscal 2007 spending cap had not been resolved. She said it would be difficult to reach agreement on a final bill without a deeming resolution attached to it."

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Monthly Budget Review

Jun 7, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Congressional Budget Office has released their Monthly Budget Review. During the first eight months of FY 2006 (remember the fiscal year begins October 1) the government incurred a deficit of $223 billion, which is $50 billion lower than the deficit amount recorded for this period last year. Outlays for Social Security and net interest payments on the debt grew by about $3 billion each, and defense spending was up $2 billion. Receipts for the month of May this year were substantially higher than receipts last year. The report says:

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House Passes Budget, Slips in Increase to Debt Ceiling

In the very wee hours of May 18, the House finally succeeded in passing its version of the 2007 budget resolution, more than a month too late. Majority Leader John Boehner (R-IA) had repeatedly postponed the vote, because he lacked enough support to pass the bill. The passage of the resolution carries little practical purpose, because the House and Senate are unlikely to have the time or inclination to reconcile the very different versions of the bill, and the House has already moved forward quickly with appropriations.

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Battle Brewing on How to Track Contract and Grant Bucks

Two bills may soon face off in the Senate on how best to provide the public with information on how the government spends taxpayer dollars.

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House Speeds Through the First of its Spending Bills

Immediately following the passage of a House budget resolution last week, the Appropriations Committee (and its relevant subcommittees) got down to business and passed its first four appropriations bills. Although the House is once again off to a blistering pace, the lack of a final budget resolution a jam-packed Senate calendar and a short legislative session, will almost definitely delay appropriations beyond the start of the fiscal year. This situation will surely necessitate continuing resolutions and a lame-duck session after the November elections.

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