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

The Senate Will Lose Extra Funding In Supplemental

May 19, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Negotiators for the House and Senate have agreed to back down on including extra funding within the supplemental spending bill, and are doing so to avoid a veto fight with the White House. The emergency spending bill, which is set to fund war efforts (which after this long should not be funded through the emergency procedure) and hurricane disaster relief, will most likely cost no more than $94.5 billion.

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House Passes Budget Resolution 218-210

May 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

At 1:30 AM last night the House passed their version of the budget resolution after Majority Leader Boehner had repeatedly put off the vote because he didn't have enough support to pass the bill. The $2.8 trillion measure, H.Con.Res. 376, just barely passed 218-210 after moderates led by Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) decided to support the measure.

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BREAKING: House Budget Vote TODAY!

May 17, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Call Congress Today House Republican leaders are planning to VOTE TODAY ON THE BUDGET RESOLUTION. The vote is not assured and your call is crucial!Call your Representative toll free at 800-459-1887 and tell them to vote NO on the irresponsible budget.

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National Guard Border Deployment Would Be "horribly over-expensive"

May 17, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Last year Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff declared that deploying the National Guard to the Mexican border for border patrol activities would be "a horribly over-expensive and very difficult way to manage [the illegal immigration] problem." CQ's Patrick Yoest reports: “Why don’t you put the National Guard on the border to back up the border patrol and stop the bleeding, and then start to increase the Border Patrol, the high-tech and all of that?” [Fox News talk show host Bill] O’Reilly asked…

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How Much for that Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Window?

May 16, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Last night, President Bush unveiled his shopping list for immigration reform. Without once mentioning the cost or a way to finance the latest splurge, Bush asked the American people to once again open up their collective wallet and pony-up the plastic for another spending spree. However, given Bush’s predilection for deficit-spending, it won’t just be the American people, but our children and grandchildren who will be footing this bill. Some of the items on the shopping list:

6,000 border patrol agents
6,000 National Guardsmen

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House Fails to Pass Budget Again--Approps Move Forward Just the Same

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) once again failed to bring the budget resolution to the floor last week despite rumors and rumblings from the GOP leadership that passage of the bill was imminent. Having reached a compromise with Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Boehner was still unable to garner enough support from within the Republican caucus to hold a vote. Considering the difficulty of finding agreement in conference with the Senate at this late date, passing the resolution is now bordering on pointless anyway.

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Despite Budget Failure, House Moves to Appropriations

May 16, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Despite lacking a budget resolution, the House of Representatives is expected to take up its first three appropriations bills this week, likely starting with the Agriculture bill on Wednesday. Because they have yet to pass a resolution however, the House will have to establish a discretionary spending cap before they can consider the first appropriations bill on the floor. To do so, the House would likely add a "deeming resolution" to the first bill on the floor.

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Senate Shirks Fiscal Responsibility; Passes Tax Reconciliation Bill

May 14, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Thursday evening the Senate passed the almost $70 billion tax reconciliation bill, by a vote of 54-44. Sens. Rockefeller (D-WV) and Specter (R-PA) did not vote. Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans were Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), and Pryor (D-AR). Republicans who crossed the aisle were Snowe (R-ME), Chafee (R-RI), and Voinovich (R-OH). Voinovich spoke extensively on May 3 on the Senate floor about the fiscal state of the U.S. and about how this is not the time to be continuing to irresponsibly cut taxes. He said:

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OMB Watch Job Opening

May 14, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Job Opening We are looking to hire a budget and tax policy analyst. Check out the job description and send applications to ombwatch@ombwatch.org.

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House Leaders Fail Again to Pass Budget

May 11, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Some good news from Capitol Hill after the House and Senate both acted to pass a horrific tax cut bill. The GOP leadership in the House was once again unable to garner the necessary support from the rest of their caucus to pass their version of the FY2007 budget resolution.

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