Earmarks

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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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 28, 2008

May 28, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Economy -- Consumer Confidence Drops to 16-Year Low: The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households, fell to its lowest level since October 1992.

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War Supplemental Bill Awaits Final House Approval

When Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess, the House will take up the Senate's $250 billion supplemental war spending proposal. After the Senate added on $165 billion for war funding to the House's bill (which contained no money for the wars), it also tacked on some $10 billion in additional non-defense discretionary spending above the House's level of $21.1 billion. Although similar to the House version, the Senate's bill differs in a few key aspects, and the House will have to approve the Senate version or continue negotiating by amending it and passing it back to the upper chamber.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 27, 2008

May 27, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Housing -- Market Collapse Accelerates: Prices of single-family homes declined a record 14.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Year-to-year prices fell less than three percent during the worst drop in the last housing recession, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index, released this morning.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 23, 2008

May 23, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Supplemental -- Senate OKs $250 Bn in War, Domestic Funds:

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 22, 2008

May 22, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Budget -- Timing of Budget Resolution Vote Uncertain: Due to clerical and constitutional issues involving the farm bill, the FY09 budget resolution may not be brought to a House or Senate vote until after Congress returns in June from the weeklong Memorial Day recess. Of historical note, House passage of the resolution would increase the national debt limit to $10.615 trillion -- that's eleven figures, for the first time.

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House, Senate Set to Approve Budget Resolution

May 22, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The House and Senate are set to vote on the FY 2009 Congressional Budget Resolution today. OMB Watch sent letters of support for the resolution to both the House and Senate Budget Committees yesterday (House letter, Senate letter). The letters highlight the positive (and negative) aspects of the resolution, as well as the recent historical difficulty of enacting a budget resolution during an election year (hasn't happened since 2000).

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 21, 2008

May 21, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Earmarks -- House Cmte. Chair to Ignore Bush Order: Earlier this year, the president issued an Executive Order barring government agencies from using funds for earmarks added in House and Senate committee or conference report instead of the original bill's language. Per House Armed Services chair Ike Skelton (D-MO)'s spokeswoman: the "committee does not believe and does not acknowledge the president's assertion that report language should have no weight.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Housing -- Senate Banking Compromise Mark-Up Today: The Senate Banking Committee's compromise housing package, the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act, will be marked up by the committee this morning. The bill, which provides $300 billion in mortgage guarantees, includes "major efforts to help prevent the rising number of foreclosures, to create more affordable housing for Americans and to reform the regulation of government-sponsored [housing finance] enterprises in order to improve their role in the housing finance system." Committee Release.

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I am a Budget Hero

May 19, 2008 by Dana Chasin

And So Can You American Public Media's Marketplace has produced an on-line game called Budget Hero, which allows players to try their hand at balancing the federal budget. Pick your policy priorities and fund them with real-life pay-fors. Or don't pay for them and see what year your budget goes bust.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 19, 2008

May 19, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Among the major outstanding fiscal issues likely to see congressional action this week, in advance of the Memorial Day recess: Budget Resolution -- An FY09 Budget by Friday?: The budget resolution conference committee is expected to meet to hash out the FY09 budget resolution. Conferees and leaders are hoping to approve the budget before lawmakers leave town for the Memorial Day recess. If it is approved, it will mark the first time since 2000 that Congress has been able to agree on a budget blueprint in an election year. Story.

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