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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Balanced Budget Amendment Out of the Limelight For Now

Oct 4, 2004 by Guest Blogger

A week after the House Judiciary Committee met to consider a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, Republican House leadership has decided to drop work on the legislation. This decision was made after the September 22 committee drafting session, during which Democrats offered numerous amendments to attach to the legislation. When it came time to vote the committee did not have quorum, and nothing was accomplished.

House members in support of the Balanced Budget Amendment seem to have gotten the message that besides the fact that the amendment is widely unpopular, there are also more pressing issues for them to be debating at this time.

The amendment - which proposes a constitutionally mandated requirement to balance the budget every year - would have terrible economic consequences, which many committee members have recognized. It was even unpopular among some committee Republicans. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is quoted in a Washington Post story as saying, "We can limit deficits on our own.... We in Congress ought to be embarrassed by what has happened. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves."

For now we can breathe a sigh of relief that House members have dropped work on this economically harmful amendment. To find out more about the amendment, and why it's adoption would be costly to the U.S. economy, click here to read a Clinton-era Treasury Department memo by Brad DeLong.

read in full

Congress Votes to Extend Bush's Tax Cuts

Sep 27, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The House and Senate voted overwhelmingly on the evening of September 23 to extend three tax cuts amounting to $146 billion total, with $13 billion set aside for a variety of business tax breaks. Because the costs of the tax cuts are not offset at all, many believe that they will end up hurting the middle class in the long run.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report highlighting how the "middle class" tax cuts will likely end up making the middle class net losers, once the cost of paying for the tax cuts is considered. The report can be read here.

The legisltation, which was passed 92-3 in the Senate and 339-65 in the House, extends the $1,000 per-child tax credit and tax breaks for married couples, and prevents the 10 percent income tax bracket from being applied to smaller amounts of earned income. The legislation also extends alternative minimum tax relief for one year.

Click here to read a Washington Post article with further details on the new tax legislation.

read in full

CTJ and ITEP Release Important New Report

Sep 23, 2004 by Guest Blogger

On September 22nd, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released an important report highlighting the taxes paid - or not paid - by many of the county's largest companies.

The report can be downloaded here .

BUSH POLICIES DRIVE SURGE IN CORPORATE TAX FREELOADING

Eighty two of America's largest and most profitable corporations paid no federal income tax in at least one year during the first three years of the George W. Bush administration. This is one of the many troubling findings of this major new report on corporate tax avoidance.

read in full

Watcher: September 20th, 2004

Sep 21, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Federal Budget

Appropriators Continue Slow Pace
Economy and Jobs Watch: Cyclically Adjusted Deficit Reaches Record High
Return of a 'CYA' Budget Policy
Congress Defies White House, Saves Overtime For Millions

read in full

Oppose Balanced Budget Amendment

Sep 21, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The full House Judiciary Committee met on September 22 to consider, once again, the ill-fated Balanced Budget Amendment (H. J. RES. 22). While the Committee did meet to debate the amendment, they ended the session without making any decisions. The issue will most likely be revisted by the House Committee sometime next week, although it is currently unknown exactly when. Regardless of one’s opinions about the wisdom of balancing the budget or running massive deficits, the Balanced Budget Amendment currently being debated in the House Judiciary Committee is exceptionally bad economic policy.

Max B. Sawicky, an Economic Policy Institute budget and fiscal policy expert, said “The rush to force future Congresses to wear the balanced budget straitjacket comes from a fundamental misunderstanding about deficits."

Sawicky sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, presenting a detailed, economists’ eye view of how moderate-sized deficits have historically been an important tool for stimulating economic growth, especially in times of recession. He points out that even the weak growth that has occurred in the recent recovery would likely have been choked off if the amendment now under consideration were already in place.

A constitutionally mandated requirement to balance the budget every year would have terrible economic consequences. It would destabilize the economy by amplifying downturns in the business cycle, and restrict the nation's ability to invest in projects that would yield significant benefits in the future.

In addition, more than 1,000 economists have publicly opposed the amendment, including 11 Nobel laureates. A letter oulining this opposition was coordinated by the Economic Policy Institute in 1997; a press release can be found here.

For more information on the amendment, click here to read a treasury Department memo by Brad DeLong.

Take action on this issue! Send a fax to the House Judiciary Committee, telling them that a balanced budget amendment is a fiscally irresponsible economic policy.

read in full

Congress Defies White House, Saves Overtime for Millions

Both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House of Representatives have defied a White House veto threat and voted to save overtime rights for millions of workers.

read in full

Appropriators Continue Slow Pace

With much of the appropriations work still left to do, the Congress has been creeping along with their annual appropriations work. To date, only two of the 13 bills have made it to conference. The likelihood of an omnibus bill, a lame duck session, and/or a continuing resolution seems to be growing.

read in full

Tell Congress To Save Overtime Rights

Sep 8, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Congress has an opportunity to undo the administration's rollback of overtime protections. A final rule from the Department of Labor would disqualify over 6 million workers from overtime protections. An amendment to the Labor appropriations bill, proposed by Congressman David Obey, would restore overtime rights while preserving an inflation adjustment to the minimum salary that determines automatic overtime eligibility.

OMB Watch stands by the proposition that the federal government should use its regulatory powers to serve the public interest. The Department of Labor has not lived up to that obligation during the course of this administration. For example, DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to produce a single economically significant protection of worker health and safety, even as it has abandoned work on many proposals to address documented needs. The Bush administration’s overtime regulations are the latest example of this overall failure to serve workers’ needs. Fortunately, Congress has an opportunity—the Obey amendment—to stop DOL from further harming the labor force it is charged with protecting.

Tell Congress to save overtime rights and support the Obey amendment! Click here to send a message to your members of Congress.

read in full

Watcher: September 7th, 2004

Sep 8, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Federal Budget

CBO Updates Budget Estimates: Massive Deficits to Grow Under Current Policy
'State of Working America' Calls Economy Unbalanced
Labor Day Finds Little to Celebrate in Recent Trends
Economy and Jobs Watch: Sluggish Growth Continues
Appropriations: A Look Ahead

read in full

Appropriations: A Look Ahead

As Congress reconvenes today, the Defense Bill remains the only completed appropriation bill for FY 2005. The $417.5 billion bill was approved only just prior to the August recess. Members of Congress have a lot of work ahead of them if they wish to complete their appropriations work before the end of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30th, as only three other bills -- Homeland Security, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction -- have even made it through a full Senate committee.

read in full