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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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- June 17, 2008

Jun 17, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Unemployment -- House To Keep UI in Supp.; Senate in Limbo: House Democratic leaders will include a provision extending unemployment insurance in the pending war supplemental appropriations bill, scrapping an idea to drop the provision that came from an effort to reduce the domestic funding portion of the package and avoid a veto from President Bush. This morning, Senate Republican blocked Majority Leader Reid's request that the Senate consider a free standing UI Extension. AP Story.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- June 16, 2008

Jun 16, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Supplemental -- House Aims to Pass Bill by July 4: The House floor may see key action this week toward passage of the war spending supplemental package covering the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the rest of FY08 and into FY09. The bill has been delayed as Democrats have sought consensus on whether expanded veterans benefits, extended unemployment benefits and other domestic spending provisions will be attached and offset. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said last week that Congress will have the bill ready for the president's signature by July 4.

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Approps Update

Jun 13, 2008 by Craig Jennings

House Approps Committee Releases 302(b)s; Byrd Announces Markup Schedule The House Appropriations Committee has released its 302(b) allocations. House FY 2009 302(b) Allocations (discretionary budget authority; excluding emergency funding unless otherwise noted; in billions of dollars) FY 2009 Proposed Allocations Defense $487.737 Homeland Security 39.900 Homeland Advance Appropriations: BioShield 2.175 Military Construction & Veterans Affairs 72.729 Subtotal, Security-Related 602.541 State & Foreign Operations 36.620 Agriculture 20.623

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- Friday the 13th, June 2008

Jun 13, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Unemployment Claims -- June Starts off Much Like May: The number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose 25,000 in the week ended June 7 to 384,000 seasonally adjusted, according to the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration data. The rise follows a decline of 16,000 in the week ended May 31. The unemployment extension bill having passed in the House yesterday (see here), these numbers may have some bearing on the Senate's deliberations. Today's ETA Report.

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- June 11, 2008

Jun 11, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Unemployment -- What is the Fastest Vehicle?: House and Senate leaders haven't decided yet how best to pass a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the nation's 8.55 million jobless workers. The House is inclining toward a stand-alone extension bill, believing that would quickly secure a veto-proof majority. Senate leaders and some Republicans such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) say the "emergency" war supplemental "is the fastest vehicle" available. The House is expected to vote on a stand-alone version of the bill this afternoon or tomorrow. GOP Deserting Bush on UI.

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Appropriators Get to Work

Jun 10, 2008 by Craig Jennings

With the bicameral adoption of a budget resolution last week, Congress embarks on the long, strange trip known as "the appropriations process." Occasionally, we'll update this chart to let you know where everything stands. Or, you can also follow all the appropriations action on the Thomas "Status of Appropriations Legislation for Fiscal Year 2009" website. House FY 2009 Appropriations Markup Schedule 6/11/2008 Subcommittee Markup — Homeland Security 6/11/2008 Subcommittee Markup — Interior & the Environment 6/12/2008

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Obama and Coburn Shine Brighter Light on Government Spending

Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have joined forces again to craft legislation that would increase the transparency of how the federal government spends taxpayers' money. The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077), introduced June 3, is a follow-up to the 2006 Transparency Act, which was also spearheaded by the two senators. Obama and Coburn, along with Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ), introduced the new legislation with the goals of making important new data easily accessible and enabling citizens to hold our government accountable for the fiscal stewardship of our shared resources.

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The $12 Billion Question

Jun 10, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Does UI Extension Require Compliance with PAYGO? Would that it were easy to answer this one. As you might imagine, the answer is: it depends. PRO: PAYGO applies to an extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits because there would be -- without an offset -- a net increase of the deficit at the end of the day. Like other trust funds (think Social Security), there is no actual money there, just IOUs.

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Congress Adopts Mixed-Bag Budget Resolution

A rare event occurred in Washington on Thursday, June 5: Congress approved a budget resolution during an election year, a feat not seen since 2000. This fact and a human needs-oriented approach to spending signal that Congress is addressing national priorities while attempting to more responsibly manage the country's finances. However, Congress's eliding of pay-as-you-go rules and unrealistic assumptions about war spending and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief have marred an otherwise responsible budget resolution.

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Spike in Jobless Rate Restarts Focus on Unemployment Insurance

On June 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a jump in the national unemployment rate from 5.0 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May, the single biggest month-to-month increase in 22 years. Another 49,000 Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed in May, bringing the yearly total thus far to 324,000. The news took analysts by surprise, and along with rising oil prices, helped push stocks down by three percent on all three major American exchanges and re-ignited talk of a possible recession.

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