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

More Transparency on Katrina?

Aug 29, 2006 by Matthew Madia

A year ago today, of course, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I don't have much to add to all that's been said so far, except for that we don't really know how the federal government has been spending the money it allocated for the relief and recovery effort. Amy Liu, a researcher for the Brookings Institute who's been tracking the recovery for the last year, should know what the federal government has been spending the money on. But as she said on the Tavis Smiley show in July, nobody really does.

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Mystery Senator Update

Aug 28, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Last week we told you about efforts to smoke out the senator who has put a "secret hold" on a bill that would create a free, searchable database continuing information on all contracts and grants awarded by the federal government. Today, TPMmuckraker updates us with the latest. They are reporting, based on reponses from thier readers, that as of this afternoon, 50 senators have denied putting a hold on the bill.

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Indentity of Secret Holder Remains a Mystery

Aug 24, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The quest to smoke out the Senator who is placing a "secret" hold on legislation to create a free, searchable, online database of all federal grants and contract continues today with a Cox News story that appeared in the Houston Chronicle. The story quote's OMBW own Gary Bass as saying: It really is outrageous to do this in the dead of night as Congress is recessing. The public has a right to know how the government spends money.

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August Reading for Sen. Grassley

Aug 23, 2006 by Matthew Madia

We noted earlier today how horrendously misleading and downright incorrect Sen. Grassley's statement about the CBO August Update report was in great detail, but thought it might be appropriate to compile a list of summer reading materials Grassley - or perhaps more importantly his staff - could read to get themselves up to speed on the issue.

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More on Marron

Aug 22, 2006 by Matthew Madia

As reported here, last week’s description of this year’s federal deficit by CBO Acting Director Donald Marron’s as “sustainable” provoked the ire of Kent Conrad (D-ND), the ranking Senate Budget Committee member, and John M. Spratt Jr. (D-SC), the ranking House Budget Committee member. Maron became Acting director when Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin left at the end of 2005, roughly halfway through his term. Amid the stir raised last week by Marron’s comments, the question was raised regarding the tenure of a CBO acting director.

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Senate Budget Democratic Staff Analysis of CBO Report

Aug 22, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Senate Budget Committee's Democratic Staff has released an analysis of the Congressional Budget Office's August Budget and Economic Update.

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OMB Watch in TomPaine.Com

Aug 21, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Our very own Adam Hughes and Craig Jennings have an article on Congress's deficit addiction in today's TomPaine.com. Check it out!

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CBO's Marron says deficit "sustainable," sparks spat with Spratt & Conrad

Aug 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

This week, CBO released its initially cheery-sounding report that the federal deficit for 2006 would shrink to $260 billion, from $318 billion last year, the lowest level since 2001. Of course, the gloomier long-term fact is that extending President Bush’s tax cuts beyond 2010 and accounting for war and other hidden costs would add $1.75 trillion in debt over the next 10 years and widen annual deficits by about $250 billion from 2011 through 2016.

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CBO Releases Economic Outlook

Aug 17, 2006 by Matthew Madia

CBO has released its full report on the state of the deficit. It's worth taking a look at.

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Are Earmarks Really That Bad?

Aug 15, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Christian Science Monitor is running a series of articles on pork-barrel politics, the latest of which focuses on defense earmarks in West Viriginia. Here's what a defense contractor had to say about a military production facility (ABL) that earmarks have helped develop:

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