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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Same Old Congress, Same Old Budgetary Gridlock: Long-Term CR Likely in December

Congress has made very little progress toward being able to finally adjourn for the year, leaving most of their appropriations work, a set of popular tax breaks, and funding problems in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program still unaddressed. With time running out, Congress will probably pass another extension of a budget-cutting continuing resolution, once again neglecting its duty to enact the annual spending bills.

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Continuing the Resolution ... into the New Year

Nov 21, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Congressional Quarterly ($) reports today that GOP leaders have decided to enact a long-term continuing resolution when they return to session in December, effectively pushing off their failed budget work onto the new Democratic Congress in 2007. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman, tacitly acknowledging the amount of homework heaped on Democrats' desks, said,

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GAO Budget Process Reforms: Walker Shows the Way

Nov 20, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

A GAO memo today from David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, entitled "Suggested Areas for Oversight for the 110th Congress" says that "fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path." Among the memo's suggestions are the following "needing Congressional attention": --> Reimpose caps on discretionary spending. Under caps, consider special rules for well-defined “emergency” designations. --> Reintroduce pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirements—on both the spending and revenue side of the ledger

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Bush to Seek Massive War Supplemental - Congress Should Demand Explanation

Nov 20, 2006 by Craig Jennings

About a month after signing a defense appropriations bill containing $70 billion extra-budgetary "bridge fund" to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush may request yet more funding for the conflicts. The next request could be an eye-popping $130 billion.

BNA ($):

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Major Budget Policy Decisions Loom for the Lame Duck

Nov 17, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Billion-dollar budget questions loom as we move through the lame duck and into 2007, including: the scope of a continuing resolution (CR), how many years to extend the popular tax credit package that foundered with the Trifecta, whether to attempt an ATM patch, what havoc reinstatement of PAYGO would mean for all of the above. Congress adjourned at the end of last week for a two-week Thanksgiving break, leaving all these questions behind. Current leading speculation and the budget implications of the choices ahead are as follows:

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Continuing the Continuing Resolution

Nov 15, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

CQ.com ($) reports that the House has passed an extension of the stopgap funding measure known as the FY 2007 continuing resolution. The current continuing resolution was set to expire this Friday. Hence, the swift action from the House.

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Wanted: ISO non-partisan D 4 CBO Dir.

Nov 14, 2006 by Dana Chasin

CBO Acting Director Donald B. Marron has not endeared himself to the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs of late for his assessment of the federal deficit's long-term sustainability, and now he looks as "unsustainable" as the deficit itself.

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Budgeting Time (Part 1)

Nov 13, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Word is that the lame duck session of Congress will consist of this week, followed by a two-week break, with a final work period of Monday, December 4 to Friday, December 18. The current Continuing Resolution (CR) funding federal government operations expires this Friday, November 17. So, this week, a new CR is must-pass legislation. Congress is expected to set an expiration date for the new CR of Friday, December 8. The questions before Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate are:

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A Green Light for Pay-Go?

Nov 9, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Having fallen short in the Senate last year by only one vote and this year on a tie vote, and given a new Democratic majority in both houses of the 110th Congress, with budget hawks poised to take over as chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, Pay-Go’s time may finally have arrived. Quoted in BNA, OMB Watch’s Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, Adam Hughes, said, "A one-vote difference" in the Senate could be enough to get it through in that body.”

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Next War Supplemental Reported to be Enormous

Nov 7, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

In a continued effort to totally ignore Congress's request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the regular annual appropriations process, the Defense Department is in the process of constructing a new supplemental funding request for the wars for FY 2007 - reported to be a whopping $160 billion. Combined with the current $70 billion FY 2007 apporpriations for Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States could spend $230 billion on the wars by the time this fiscal year ends next September. That's approximately half of the total spending on the wars so far!

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