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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Bush's FY2008 Budget: Guidelines and Laughlines

Feb 2, 2007 by Dana Chasin

David Broder's column in yesterday's Post, Deficit Day Of Reckoning? dutifully recounts the Democratic congressional leadership's guidelines for fiscal responsibility, sent to President Bush in a Jan. 26 letter. The letters urges that Bush's FY 2008 budget, due next Monday, Feb. 5:

account realistically for projected federal costs
realistically project short- and long-term deficits
provide detail throughout the entire budget period so that the choices required to meet the budget goals are clear

read in full

House Passes $463.5 bn. FY2007 Spending Resolution

Jan 31, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This afternoon, the House passed its $463.5 billion "CRomnibus" spending resolution for FY2007 by a 286-140 vote. Approval by the Senate and the President are required to keep the government operating after Feb. 15.

read in full

House to Vote Tomorrow on $463.5 bn. FY2007 "CRomnibus"

Jan 30, 2007 by Dana Chasin

House Appropriations chair Rep. David Obey (D-WI)'s fiscal 2007 budget bill, H. J. Res. 20, filed late Monday, provides for $463.5 billion in spending. It complies with the statutory ceiling on spending; it also declares that earmarks it may contain "shall have no legal effect," though "ongoing" earmarks contained in bills prior to FY06 can continue. The bill is expected to reach the House floor for a vote on Wednesday (tomorrow).

read in full

Senate Hearing Affirms Congress's War Powers

Jan 30, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Constitutional scholars agree: Congress has the power to shape war policy. Army Times has more. A panel of constitutional scholars said Tuesday that Congress clearly has the power, if it chooses to use it, to stop the war in Iraq. The difficulty in exercising the power is political, not constitutional, in getting a veto-proof majority in the House and Senate to agree on binding legislation to either cut off funding for combat operations or repeal the previously passed authorization to use force, the legal experts said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

read in full

Tom Paine on Industry Giveaways

Jan 25, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Tom Paine has an interesting article on an overlooked government handout to the oil and gas industry. When the U.S. House of Representatives voted to eliminate $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry on January 18, it left at least one item off its target list: a billion-dollar handout to a research consortium that includes publicly traded companies that reaped $100 billion in profits in 2005.

read in full

Senate's Second Chances for Line-Item Slim

Jan 23, 2007 by Dana Chasin

A new edition of the old GOP chestnut, the line-item veto, is getting substantial Senate floor time during consideration of S. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-NH) has offered an amendment to the minimum wage bill to grant the president line-item "enhanced rescission" authority to strike earmarks from tax and spending bills.

read in full

PayGo on TPM Cafe

Jan 23, 2007 by Matt Lewis

An interesting discussion on PayGo has popped up on TPM Cafe. Amitai Etzioni wrote we shouldn't go by PayGo because it'll only lead to surpluses that Republicans will squander on their well-heeled constituents. Point well taken. Paul Krugman recently made a similar point, though less in terms of PayGo and more in terms of the deficit. But that's not the end of the story. Greg Anrig at TPM Cafe has an interesting response to Etzioni's post. He thinks PayGo is a good way to define Democrats as responsible and competent and Republicans as crazy.

read in full

Congress Can Shape War Policy through Appropriations Process

President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq has stirred up debate recently over the extent to which Congress can direct war policy. While some have gone so far as to suggest that Congress has the authority to do no more than make symbolic statements, in truth, the appropriations process gives Congress significant — albeit restricted — power to shape the course of war policy. Using the Power of the Purse

read in full

Senate Passes New Rules on Earmark Disclosure

The Senate on Jan. 18 passed a comprehensive lobbying and ethics reform bill — S. 1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 — that included an overhauled earmark disclosure rule. After nearly two weeks of floor debate featuring reversals, stalemates, and a brief filibuster, the Senate voted 96-2 to pass the bill, widening the definition of earmarks and increasing their public disclosure requirements. S. 1 must be passed by the House and signed by the president before any of it, including the Senate rules changes, can take effect.

read in full

Congress Commits More Time to Doing Its Job

After one of the shortest legislative sessions on record, the 110th Congress has scheduled substantially more days in session for 2007. Hoping to avoid the "do-nothing" label that haunted the 109th Congress, Democratic leaders are hoping the additional time will not only allow for the adoption of their initial "100 hours" agenda, but also the timely completion of all appropriations bills before the start of the next fiscal year. Despite the additional days in session, however, it may still be difficult for Democrats to enact their priorities.

read in full