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

White House "Disappointed" by CR Announcement, Oddly

Dec 12, 2006 by Dana Chasin

In an ironic and perplexing development today, the Bush Administration expressed dismay with yesterday's decision by incoming Congressional leaders to extend the FY2007 continuing resolution (CR) through the end of the current fiscal year. "The announcement from the incoming congressional majority is disappointing," said OMB Director Rob Portman, adding that “should there be a long-term continuing resolution, the administration would want to assure we maintain fiscal discipline and avoid gimmicks and unwarranted emergency spending.”

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Orszag Selected New CBO Director

Dec 12, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Incoming Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) announced today that he has selected Brookings Institution economics scholar Peter Orszag to serve as the new director of the Congressional Budget Office, replacing Donald Marron. Conrad said that he selected Orszag after consulting with incoming House Budget Committee chair John Spratt (D-SC), current Senate Budget Committee chair Judd Gregg (R-NH), and the incoming House Budget Committee ranking member Paul Ryan (R-WI).

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Iraq Study Group: President Should Cease Emergency Funding Requests for War

Dec 7, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel convened to ascertain the Iraq war and recommend courses of action, released its report yesterday. Recommendation 72 of the ISG is that:

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From Earmark to Earful: the Iraq Study Group

Dec 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

This morning, we witnessed a remarkable moment in American history: a sitting President's policy castigated and condemned in person by members of a highly-respected bipartisan group -- including a former Supreme Court Justice, former Secretaries of State, and former Presidential Chiefs of Staff -- over military policy relating to one of the five or six major wars ever undertaken by this country. And to think, that group, the Iraq Study Group, was created by a tiny earmark inserted into a war supplemental bill by a rank-and-file Republican member of the House. As the New York Times put it:

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Supplemental Scrutiny

Dec 5, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The House Democratic caucus may have gotten our memo. Following a caucus meeting today, to-be-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that when President Bush sends up his "emergency" supplementary war funding request (expected arrival: next February; pricetag: as much as $160 billion):

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Lame Duck Session Holds Little Hope for Appropriations Bills

The congressional lame duck session resumed Dec. 5 as the 109th Congress returned to work on a set of long-deferred tax and budget items. However, Congress will likely postpone action on the bulk of these issues until the next session and quickly pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will last until early 2007. The Budget

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Inter-Branch Exchanges at the Library Next Year

Dec 1, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The two guys from Harlem and Wall Street will meet in the Library of Congress next month when incoming House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson attend a daylong "bipartisan 'retreat' to find common ground on tax and trade policy."

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That's No Anomaly -- That's My Lunch!

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Congress Daily ($) reported this afternoon that Congressional GOP leaders appear close to an agreement to extend the FY2007 Continuing Resolution (CR, discussed here, and here) until next Feb. 15. Aware that the longer the CR is extended (for reasons discussed here), the greater the likelihood that images of low-income housing assistance recipients out on the streets or schoolchildren going without breakfast and lunch would start playing out in the media:

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Opening up the Flood, Gates?

Nov 29, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Looking at the issues raised by Adam's blog below on the record-setting (estimated at $127-150 billion) emergency supplemental spending request expected from the Pentagon early next year, one wonders: where is the Congressional appetite for such spending expected to come from? In the face of:

renewed congressional interest in re-asserting and exercising oversight authority
heightened vigilance among budget hawks in Congress regarding the deficit
members' keen awareness of the Iraq war's vast and growing unpopularity among Americans

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"Emergency" Defense Bill Likely to be Anything But

Nov 29, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

More news coverage is out today on the enormous upcoming "emergency" appropriations request being developed by the Pentagon for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We previously posted (here, and here) about how the Pentagon is attempting to widen the scope of this funding request to include not only expenses related to the two wars, but anything that could be categorized under the "broader war on terror."

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