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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more news

23 Organizations Ask Congress To Stick to PAYGO

Oct 31, 2007 by Matt Lewis

23 organizations, including OMB Watch, signed and sent a letter to Congress today asking for a sustained commitment to PAYGO budgeting rules. As the Ways and Means Committee is ready to mark up the AMT patch, now is an important time to reaffirm Congress's commitment to these rules.

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TheMiddleClass.Org

Oct 31, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Drum Major Institute has an intriguing new website up- themiddleclass.org- where you can basically track legislation that matters to the "current and aspiring" middle class, and get a reliable perspective on what it's all about. Its unveiling is a good opportunity to rundown a couple other really useful sites that help everyone -myself included- hold the government accountable.

OpenCongress.Org- like Thomas, but understandable.
OpenSecrets.Org- complete records of campaign donations.
Congresspedia- a wiki site on Congress that anyone can update.

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Rethinking Discretionary Budget Caps

Oct 24, 2007 by Matt Lewis

A few facts on the congressional budget resolution (from Allen Shick's classic The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy and Process):

For about the first 200 years of this country, there was no congressional Budget Resolution (BR) and no discretionary cap.
The budget resolution was originally conceived of as a way to reduce deficits. When it didn't work that well, discretionary caps were added to make it stronger.
The discretionary spending has decreased from nearly 1/2 the budget in 1975 (the year of the first budget resolution) to less than 1/3rd now.

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Discretionary Budget Caps: Who Needs 'Em?

Oct 19, 2007 by Matt Lewis

After yesterday's post on the budget process, I got to thinking: what's the point of the Congressional Budget Resolution (see this Powerpoint for budget process basics)? Budget process experts will tell you that it brings order and coordination to the annual budget. But it also puts pressure to keep discretionary spending low. I'm talking about the cap on discretionary spending. Once it's set, it's rarely exceeded. In fact, its purpose is to make sure that spending does not go above a certain level. That is anti-spending.

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Letting the Process Fit The Politics

Oct 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Inclusion(ist?) has up an interesting paper about the need to reform the budget process. Its thesis is that the budget process has been structured in a way that has successfully prioritized deficit reduction, and that these rules have focused attention more on the price of spending than its value. I won't engage the specifics of the proposal to reform the budget process. But I think it makes an important point about budget politics and process. Coincidentally, it echoes the imitable Stan Collender in his column this week:

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Blackwater as a Budget Blight

Oct 17, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The war in Iraq has given rise to numerous scandals and allegations of violation of U.S. law sufficient to undermine America's moral authority abroad and at home for a long time to come. Two excellent recent write-ups shedding light on how the latest such scandal, "Blackwatergate," reflects on budget politics and beyond are below:

Blackwatergate Is Also A Big Budget Problem, Stan Collender

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OMB's 2008 Release Dates for Economic Indicators

Oct 15, 2007 by Dana Chasin

OMB has released the 2008 schedule for the release of principal federal economic indicators. The agencies providing this information are as follows:

Foreign Agricultural Service -- www.pecad.fas.usda.gov
National Agricultural Statistics Service -- www.nass.usda.gov
World Agricultural Outlook Board -- www.usda.gov/oce/waob/index.htm
Bureau of the Census -- www.census.gov/epcd/econ/www/indijun.htm
Bureau of Economic Analysis -- www.bea.gov/bea/rels.htm
Energy Information Administration -- www.eia.doe.gov

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Round-Up: Senate Votes on CR, SCHIP, Debt Limit

Sep 28, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Continuing Resolution Adopted: By 94-1, the Senate voted late yesterday to keep the government operating through Nov. 16, adopting an FY 2008 continuing resolution (CR) which will fund government programs at fiscal 2007 levels. The CR keeps funds flowing to federal programs whose authorizations lapse Sept. 30, including food stamps, the Federal Aviation Administration and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. As we noted, House passed the CR on Wednesday, 404-14. Debt Limit Increased:

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Iraq Funding an Emergency? Who Sez?

Sep 27, 2007 by Dana Chasin

==> NEWS ITEM (per Congress Daily, $): Yesterday, "the Bush administration upped its emergency war funding request to $192.8 billion and counting." The administration's standards for emergency supplemental appropriations -- as re-stated annually in the president's federal budget proposal since he took office, "are defined as follows:"

necessary expenditure—an essential or vital expenditure, not one that is merely useful or beneficial
sudden—quickly coming into being, not building up over time
urgent—pressing and compelling, requiring immediate action

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House Presses the Pause/Panic Button on FY 2008

Sep 26, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Senate having passed only four of 12 FY 2008 appropriations bills and those four not even scheduled for conference, and the new fiscal year starting next Monday, Oct. 1, House passage of a continuing resolution to keep the government operating through Nov. 16 at FY 2007 spending levels -- for the most part (see below) -- was a foregone conclusion. It hardly qualifies as news. The

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