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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Hill Detects Hypocracy in Portman's Budget Bluster

May 14, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The day after the House-Senate budget resolution conferees met last week to take up their delicate deliberations, the bull from the Bush china shop came barreling into the room -- thankfully, long after negotiators had left. But the portly bull, less than deft, issued threats that fell on deaf ears, bloviating to long-vacated room: ... it is timely to notify you that I will recommend the President veto any appropriations bill that exceeds his request until Congress demonstrates a sustainable path that keeps discretionary spending within the President's topline of $933 billion.

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The Progressivity of the Baucus Amendment

May 11, 2007 by Matt Lewis

A common misconception about the Baucus amendment to the budget resolution, which calls for making permanent a handful of the Bush tax cuts, is that it's progressive, that it's a "middle class" tax cut. Indeed, many of the tax cuts it calls for are progressive, including the child tax credit. And it calls for an expansion the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which could be a big boost for low to modest income-earning families.

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Senate Votes on Budget Res. Motions-to-Instruct

May 10, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Caveat: This is very inside-baseball stuff, since motions-to-instruct are non-binding and purely advisory, and the practical consequences of budget resolutions themselves are mostly in terms of the overall discretionary spending caps they impose for the fiscal year ahead. Late yesterday, the Senate held the three roll-call votes listed below on motions to instruct budget resolution conferees. The Senate also approved, by voice vote, a motion by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), establishing a reserve fund for renewable fuels and other energy legislation.

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Budget Resolution: Senate Instruction Votes Ahead

May 9, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Senate reached a consent agreement today on motions to instruct conferees to the budget resolution. House-Senate negotiators on the FY 2008 budget resolution have begun debating and voting on motions, and the Senate has completed the procedural steps needed to appoint its conferees on the measure.

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House Action Suggests Budget Resolution Deal Close

May 8, 2007 by Dana Chasin

By a vote of 217-212 this afternoon, the House moved one step closer toward getting S Con Res 21, its version of the budget resolution, to a conference with the Senate. The following House members were appointed to the conference committee:

John M. Spratt Jr. (D-SC)
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Chet Edwards (D-TX)
Paul D. Ryan (R-WI)
J. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C.

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There May Be Problems with the Baucus Amdt., But...

May 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This today from CTJ: Congress Considers Taking Money from Social Security to Extend Tax Breaks

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BudgetBlog - Now in RSS!

May 4, 2007 by Craig Jennings

If you use a newsreader, you can subscribe the BudgetBlog. You can find the feed here. RSS? What's that?

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Budget Resolution: Timing and Issues

May 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Word on the Hill is that House and Senate negotiators are close enough to a final agreement on a joint budget resolution for confereees to be appointed and to meet next week, and for appropriations bills to start moving on the House floor the week of May 14. House budget resolution conferees are expected to be appointed next Monday, May 7. According to Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Senate will do likewise on May 9.

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Senate Still Without Strong Earmark Disclosure Provisions

While the House passed earmark disclosure provisions in its initial rules package in January, a stronger proposal for earmark disclosure passed by the Senate as part of a larger lobbying and ethics reform bill has languished for months. Despite the delay, recent rumors of possible action on the companion House ethics and lobbying reform bill have renewed hope the stronger Senate language on earmarks will eventually be adopted in both chambers.

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Which Comes First, the Budget or the Bills?

May 1, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Congress' focus on the emergency war spending supplemental has come at the cost of momentum on the FY 2008 budget resolution. House Appropriations subcommittee chairs hope to meet the goal set by the Democratic leadership of having all 12 annual appropriations bills adopted by the July 4 recess, leaving the Senate and conference committees adequate time to complete the bills by Oct. 1, the start of FY 2008. So, while they wait for a vote on the conference committee budget resolution, the Appropriations chairs are starting in on their spending bills. This creates a problem.

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