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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Budget Resolution Advances in the Senate, 52-47

Mar 23, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Senate approved a $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget resolution this afternoon, 52-47. Maine GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins joined the 50 Democrats voting to adopt the budget plan, which aims to balance by budget by 2012 and provides $18 billion more in domestic discretionary spending next year than President Bush's proposed budget. The resolution restores a pay-as-you-go point (PAYGO) of order against legislation that would cut taxes or increase mandatory spending without offsets.

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Senate Rejects Estate Tax Rollbacks

Mar 23, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate has just completed roll-call votes on the following estate tax amendments:

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), to allow the Finance Committee to craft deficit-neutral legislation to reform the estate tax by establishing an individual exemption of $5 million and a tax rate of 35 percent for the portion of estates above this amount. Rejected, 25-74.

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Senate Budget Resolution -- the First Amendment

Mar 22, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The amendment by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), referred to below, was not only first in order but first in significance among the amendments adopted yesterday during the Senate budget resolution floor debate. At a cost of about $195 billion over 2010-12, consuming all of the budget surplus projected in the resolution, the amendment

extends middle class tax cuts including the 10 percent tax bracket, marriage penalty relief, and the child tax credit, strengthens the adoption tax credit, and provides combat pay under the EITC

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Senate Budget Debate: Amendment Recap and Preview

Mar 22, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Senate debated and voted on seven amendments to its FY 2008 budget resolution yesterday, four of which passed:

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), to dedicate projected surpluses to extend a range of middle-class tax cuts and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) -- adopted, 97-1
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) , to create a point of order against any budget resolution that fails to achieve an on-budget balance within 5 years-- adopted, 98-0
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to create a 60-vote point of order against tax hikes -- adopted, 63-35

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House Budget Resolution: Summary and Resources

Mar 21, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The House Budget Committee has begun its mark-up of committee chair John Spratt's (D-SC) FY 2008 Budget Resolution "Mark." Spratt's plan differs only slightly from the budget resolution drawn up by Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad (D-ND), currently being debated on the Senate floor. Notably, however, Conrad does not call specifically for any tax cuts extensions, while Spratt assumes extensions of several expiring provisions, including:

the 10 percent bracket
marriage penalty relief
the child tax credit
"moderate" estate tax reform

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CBPP: Tax Cuts Bad For The Economy

Mar 20, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is arguing that repealing the tax cuts would be good for the economy. Bush & Co. like to claim that the tax cuts are magic, and that failing to extend them will be a disaster for the economy. They're wrong, and it's great that CBPP is pointing this out.

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Understanding PAYGO: Questions and Answers

The 110th Congress has brought attention once again to a well-known but little-understood fiscal responsibility mechanism: the pay-as-you-go rule, or PAYGO. The House has already enacted a PAYGO rule. The Senate has introduced a PAYGO bill (S. 10), and is expected to pass its own PAYGO rule in the FY 2008 Budget Resolution, which is now being considered in the Senate.

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Senate Committee Adopts $2.9 Billion Budget Resolution; Floor Action Ahead

On March 15, the Senate Budget Committee approved a $2.9 billion budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2008 on a 12-11 party-line vote. The full Senate is expected to take up the measure on March 20, with 50 hours of debate, votes on numerous amendments, and a final vote scheduled before the end of the week. The House Budget Committee is set to mark up its own budget resolution, with floor action likely the week of March 26. (Click here for links to resolution summary and details.)

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Perspectives on the Senate BR; the Road Ahead

Mar 16, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Budget Resolution adopted yesterday by the Senate Budget Committee was a case of half-full/half-empty, depending on your policy perspective. It directs additional resources toward domestic social programs and keeps defense and homeland security spending on track with Bush's proposed levels, raising the discretionary spending cap by a (modest, we think) $18 billion out of $948.8 billion.

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Senate Budget Resolution Text and Documents

Mar 15, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Today, the Senate Budget Committee is marking up the draft Senate Budget Resolution for FY 2008, released yesterday. Amendments from both sides of the aisle are being introduced, debated, and voted on. The Committee will vote on the resolution itself, with any approved amendments, by the close of business today. The Committee has made available a number of documents relating to the resolution, including: