Federal Budget Policy

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

More Budget Gridlock Next Year?

Oct 24, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The National Journal's Stan Collender ($$) is feeling pessimistic about next year's budget. Key graf: If Republicans are in the majority, fiscal and social conservatives will have to work with moderates who will fear a lame-duck president and a weakened leadership even less than they did this year. That will make it very hard to get majority support for any of the key budget, tax and spending issues.

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FedSpending Spotlight: Skyrocketing Contracts, Less Competition

Lurita Doan, the new head of the General Services Administration (GSA), recently complained about the growth of Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and the loss of contracting efficiency. Data from FedSpending.org reinforces these efficiency concerns by revealing the fast growth in federal contracts and, specifically, the remarkable growth of contracts for which there was little to no competition.

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A Fiscal Policy Review of the 109th Congress

With just a few short post-election, lame-duck weeks left, the 109th Congress will leave behind a legacy of woefully inadequate action on fiscal policy. With a set of fiscal challenges that included the need for comprehensive tax reform, concerns over Social Security insolvency, large and growing deficits, the 109th Congress' list of accomplishments is almost non-existent.

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Treasury Reports Quarter-Trillion Dollar Deficit; President Still Obscures Fiscal Problems

When the Treasury Department closed the books on Fiscal year 2006 on Sept. 30, one number precipitated a furious round of back-slaps and high-fives in the halls of the White House and the Office of Management and Budget - $248 billion. President Bush had no compunction about expressing glee about the nearly quarter-trillion dollar federal budget deficit for FY2006.

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How To Use FedSpending.org

Oct 23, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Recent media reports have shown a few of the many ways to use FedSpending.org, our new online database that lets you track how the federal government spends money. Some articles have used FedSpending to show the local impact of federal spending. An article in the Washington Examiner used FedSpending.org to calculate the total amount of all contracts that are handled by companies in the Washington, DC area. And a report in the Salt Lake City Tribune covered total federal dollars that Utah received.

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Earmarks and Headaches -- A SIC Solution?

Oct 20, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The debate over the efficacy and even-handedness of the new House earmarks disclosure rule continues. The rule requires that earmarks’ sponsors be identified by name in legislation and conference reports. It expires when the 109th COngress adjourns, unless re-adopted by the new House next year. The issues of the definition of earmarks and whether any tax expenditures would really qualify are reviewed in a meaty article today by BNA.

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Faith-Based Hogwash

Oct 20, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Here's more evidence of the budgetary sleight-of-hand, misguided priorities, and broken promises that we've all come to expect from the Bush Administration. This time, it's from former Bush staffer David Kuo, whose new book has gotten signficant press attention. Introducing the book, he writes on BeliefNet of the grand promises Bush made as a presidential candidate in 2000.

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Appropriations Committee Slashes Oversight Contracts

Oct 20, 2006 by Matt Lewis

CQ reports ($$) that the House Appropriations Committee Chairman -Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)- did not renew the contracts of 60 investigators who examined federal spending. About 16 investigators remain on staff, but given the contractor reduction, no investigations will be going forward any time soon. Committee spokesman John Scofield said Thursday that the contracts were not renewed because the panel is conducting a “bipartisan review” of the unit’s staff. “Frankly, the work we’ve been getting as of late has not been that good,” Scofield said. “There is nothing sinister going on.”

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Reporting Deficit

Oct 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The Washington Post ran a good article on the tax cuts and the deficit yesterday- lots of interesting quotes from credible folks with different opinions. Here's a great quote on the forces driving the lower deficit:

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CBPP: Lame-Duck Trap

Oct 13, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a paper out on the lame-duck budget cuts that are nearly a foregone conclusion. In September, Congress shifted $5.3 billion that Senate appropriators planned to devote to domestic programs to the defense and homeland security appropriations bills. As a result, $5.3 billion will have to be cut from other appropriations bills the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved — bills that largely fund domestic programs — when Congress reconvenes after the election.

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