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

War Supplemental: A Pentagon "Feeding Frenzy"

Jan 4, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article ($) detailing the expected supplemental spending request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a perfect illustration of the problems that emergency funding bills present and why Congressional oversight of such spending is badly needed.

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Humbled Bush Writes in WSJ

Jan 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

President Bush has fired the opening shot of the 2007 budget battle, writing an op-ed in today's WSJ. The piece is mostly PR, which is an encouraging sign that the President is more interested in repairing his image than pursuing harmful policy. Substance-wise, the President is not asking for much more than the continuation of the status quo. Some notable budgetary policies and goals mentioned in the op-ed:

No new taxes: "Now is not the time to raise taxes on the American people."

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WSJ's Misleading Article on Domestic Spending

Dec 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Wall Street Journal writes today that Democrats are going to have a tough time enacting their spending priorities, whatever they may be. True enough. But a key statement in the article is very misleading. But cutting costs isn't easy. Spending on nonsecurity discretionary programs has increased by about 23% since Mr. Bush took office. The White House -- prodded by conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill -- has tried to trim spending and asked Congress to cut some nonsecurity discretionary spending for 2006 and 2007.

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Brass Bounces Ball to Budget

Dec 20, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Sounds like Dana spoke too soon. According to the AP, the supplemental request is now $99.7 billion. WASHINGTON - The Pentagon wants the White House to seek an additional $99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press. The military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for those wars to about $170 billion. One hundred billion was just too high, apparently.

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Are Unfair Fiscal Policies Hurting Support for War?

Dec 15, 2006 by Matt Lewis

EJ Dionne has an insightful column on a vital question that's been coming up a lot recently: how should we pay for wars? This debate began as a moral one. Dionne thinks that conservatives have paid for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in an unfair, irresponsible way. Through it all, they've supported lower taxes for the wealthy, run high deficits, and cut domestic programs.

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Sen. Murray on Earmark-Free CR's Impact

Dec 15, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Here's an interesting article on the mixed blessings of an earmark-free funding year. Congressional Democrats will strip all pet-project "earmarks" from the 2007 federal budget early next year to help pay for the war in Iraq, says U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. But that move will have a downside for Clark County, she said Wednesday. Murray's address to the Vancouver Rotary Club delivered a stiff dose of fiscal reality.

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Change in CR Formula?

Dec 13, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Much about the full-year continuing resolution is still up in the air- even the formula by which all funding will be determined. GovExec has the story. Details about how a yearlong continuing resolution -- or joint resolution, as lawmakers have termed it - - would function began to emerge this week as congressional staff discussed the fallout from the decision to drop the nine unfinished fiscal 2007 spending measures.

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The Longest CR

Dec 12, 2006 by Matt Lewis

So the budget battle of 2006 will end with a whimper, not a bang. The new Democratic leadership wants to (CQ, $) extend the continuing resolution for the entire 2007 fiscal year, with some adjustments. Though not ideal, it's probably the best of all available options. It will:

Impose a "moratorium" on earmarks, which could put the next Congress on a path toward more earmark reforms
Remove a distraction for the new Congress, giving it more time to focus on an ambitious 100-hour agenda

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Dem Leaders Favor Long-Term CR

Dec 11, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Expect a long-term continuing resolution for the "punted" 2007 budget. Following announcements by the chairmen of the Appropriations Committees favoring a CR, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid issued this statement today:

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CR Extended Until Next Congress

Dec 11, 2006 by Matt Lewis

On Saturday morning, the President signed an extension of a stopgap continuing resolution, making few changes to its destructive funding formula. It will last until February 15th. CQ ($) reports: The stopgap spending measure does not contain major deviations from the funding formula in the previous resolutions, despite lobbying by veterans’ groups for $3 billion in additional veterans’ health care money. The resolution calls for agencies that have not yet had their fiscal 2007 appropriations measures enacted to get the lowest of the House-passed, Senate-passed or previous year funding level.

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