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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Smart Spending

May 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

It turns out that a seemingly small budget cut to the IRS results in lost tax revenue many times over. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Max Baucus estimated earlier this week that a 1 percent cut to the 2006 IRS budget -- an amount of $100 million -- will actually cost the Treasury roughly $1 billion in lost tax collections. As Commissioner Mark Everson reported earlier this month, and as a GAO report from 2003 indicated, each dollar spent raises approximately $11 - $13 of revenue. Sen. Baucus stated,

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Emergency Supplemental On Hold Until After Memorial Day Recess

May 24, 2006 by Craig Jennings

House and Senate conferees have failed to reach an agreement on the emergency supplemental spending bill, and so the bill will not reach the president’s desk before the Memorial Day recess. Congress will take up the haggling again after the break as the Pentagon has warned lawmakers that it will run out of funds at the end of June. Maybe they could hold a bake sale or something.

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Relief Funds Not Reaching Katrina Victims

May 24, 2006 by Craig Jennings

We’ve been looking at the costs of the president’s border security plan and its impact on the emergency spending bill making its way through Congress. Bush would have the money for his border plan be offset by reducing some military spending, but that begs the question: where else can Congress find almost $2 billion in a $94 billion bill?

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Border Security Plan Funding Detailed

May 23, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The president officially submitted his request for funds for his border security plan to Congress last week. The $1.9 billion is to be included the emergency supplemental spending bill currently being negotiated in Congress. To further complicate an already-antagonistic negotiating process, Bush continues to threaten to veto the bill should it exceed $94.5 - a spending limit imposed by Bush before this $1.9 billion shopping spree. The funds are to be spent by the National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security (in millions): National Guard: $756

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Bush Requests $1.9 billion to Pay for Border Security

May 19, 2006 by Craig Jennings

President Bush has officially asked Congress to fund his $1.9 billion border security initiative. The $1.9 billion in border security expenses is to be inserted into the supplemental spending bill currently making its way to conference. Incidentally, $1.9 billion is about the same amount of a border security provision that Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) authored. In fact, even the offsetting funds in both Bush's and Gregg's plans would come from the same line item. Perfect - same amounts, same offsets - so, what's the problem?

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The Senate Will Lose Extra Funding In Supplemental

May 19, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Negotiators for the House and Senate have agreed to back down on including extra funding within the supplemental spending bill, and are doing so to avoid a veto fight with the White House. The emergency spending bill, which is set to fund war efforts (which after this long should not be funded through the emergency procedure) and hurricane disaster relief, will most likely cost no more than $94.5 billion.

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House Passes Budget Resolution 218-210

May 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

At 1:30 AM last night the House passed their version of the budget resolution after Majority Leader Boehner had repeatedly put off the vote because he didn't have enough support to pass the bill. The $2.8 trillion measure, H.Con.Res. 376, just barely passed 218-210 after moderates led by Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) decided to support the measure.

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BREAKING: House Budget Vote TODAY!

May 17, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Call Congress Today House Republican leaders are planning to VOTE TODAY ON THE BUDGET RESOLUTION. The vote is not assured and your call is crucial!Call your Representative toll free at 800-459-1887 and tell them to vote NO on the irresponsible budget.

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National Guard Border Deployment Would Be "horribly over-expensive"

May 17, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Last year Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff declared that deploying the National Guard to the Mexican border for border patrol activities would be "a horribly over-expensive and very difficult way to manage [the illegal immigration] problem." CQ's Patrick Yoest reports: “Why don’t you put the National Guard on the border to back up the border patrol and stop the bleeding, and then start to increase the Border Patrol, the high-tech and all of that?” [Fox News talk show host Bill] O’Reilly asked…

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How Much for that Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Window?

May 16, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Last night, President Bush unveiled his shopping list for immigration reform. Without once mentioning the cost or a way to finance the latest splurge, Bush asked the American people to once again open up their collective wallet and pony-up the plastic for another spending spree. However, given Bush’s predilection for deficit-spending, it won’t just be the American people, but our children and grandchildren who will be footing this bill. Some of the items on the shopping list: