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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Social Security Benefits Cuts Calculator

Feb 17, 2005 by Guest Blogger

In continuing efforts to combat what they see as a detrimental plan by President Bush to overhaul Social Security, Senate Democrats have unveiled a new tool to aid their cause: a social security calculator which shows how much individuals will lose if benefits are "price-indexed" as opposed to "wage-indexed." Many Senators are posting these calculators on their official web sites to bring attention to the issue. While the calculator cannot accurately portray what would happen with an overhaul because no specific plan has been announced, it does show what would happen if the criteria to which benefits are currently indexed were to change. This is a policy which is supported by a number of Congressional GOP leaders, as well as many senior administration officials.

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GAO and CBO Reports Discuss Future Outlook

Feb 17, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

This week the General Accounting Office released "21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government." The report is intended to help Congress in reviewing and reconsidering the base of federal spending and tax programs. The beginning of the report includes a statement from Comptroller David M. Walker. Walker mentions our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path, and in order to solve our problems and restore fiscal flexibility, "a fundamental reexamination of major spending and tax policies and priorities" is necessary. A Congressional Budget Office report issued this week attempts to provide Congress with options on how to achive this. The February 2005 Budget Options presents options to House and Senate Budget Committees for possible ways they can alter federal spending and revenues. The options discussed in this report include a range of policy possibilities for the Committees to consider, yet the report offers no recommendations as the CBO's primary objective is to provide impartial analysis. The CBO also released this week a transcript of CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin's testimony to the Senate Budget Committee. He testified yesterday on the economic costs of long-term federal obligations, in which he noted that long-term paths for spending are slated to rise drastically in many areas over the next forty-five years. He said spending on these programs will either be paid through revenue from taxation or revenue from borrowing. Notably he mentioned that revenue from borrowing eventually will "impl[y] future taxes."

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Bush To Consider Raising SS Income Cap

Feb 16, 2005 by Guest Blogger

As reported in the Washington Post this morning by Dan Froomkin, President Bush has said for the first time he would consider raising the cap on income subject to payroll taxes. The president has previously stated firm opposition to raising the tax rate but has remained silent on the cap on social security payroll taxes, currently set at $90,000. The president's announcement opens the door to the possibility of dramatically increasing Social Security revenues. Estimates by Social Security actuaries show by lifting the cap completely, it may be possible to close the entire funding gap in the program over the next 75 years.

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New OMB Watch Report on FY06 Budget

Feb 16, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

OMB Watch has recently released this new report on the FY06 Budget from the nonprofit perspective. The report outlines some of the misleading aspects of the president's budget and details the more egregious proposals and cuts to programs. Bush FY06 Budget Impact from the Nonprofit Perspective (.pdf)

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Bush Should Be Tough on Budgets - Not People

By Adam Hughes, Budget Policy Analyst, OMB Watch
Indiana's Republican Governor Mitch Daniels, former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director under President Bush, made a startling announcement Jan. 18: he said he wants to raise taxes in his state.

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Leadership of Long-Range Tax and Budget Initiative

OMB Watch has helped to launch a long-range initiative to address tax and budget issues. A group of nonprofit leaders from around the country have volunteered to help govern the initiative.

Nancy Amidei, Civic Engagement Project/Univ of Washington (WA)
Bruce Astrein, Arizona Community Foundation (AZ)
Gary Bass, OMB Watch (DC)
Henry Bogdan, Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations (MD)
Lois Canright, United for a Fair Economy (WA)
Chuck Collins, United for a Fair Economy (MA)
Ann Courter, Voices for Illinois Children (IL)

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Next Steps Survey Results

<p>OMB Watch conducted a survey of interested nonprofits in October 2004 to gauge priorities and receive feedback about possible next steps in the construction of a long-range tax and budget policy initiative. The possible next step items included in the survey were put together by OMB Watch after a series of regional and national retreats and interviews in the summer and fall of 2004. Respondents to the survey identified different priorities than participants in interviews and retreats, but responded with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for continued work on a longer-range initiative.

Read the full Next Steps Report <i>(.pdf)</i>

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Details On the Proposed Program Cuts

Feb 14, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Click here to view the government document released late friday night which gives specifics as to which programs were cut or eliminated in the President's FY 06 budget. Bush proposed that 150 programs be cut or eliminated, but specifics as to which exact programs would be hurt were not released until days after the budget proposal came out.

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Senate Republicans Voice Concerns Over Budget

Feb 14, 2005 by Guest Blogger

As Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) noted publicly last week, the release of the President's austere budget not only has Democrats up in arms, but also is creating "some significant angst among my colleagues" on the other side of the aisle. Senator Voinovich (R-OH) in particular has come out against the fiscal irresponsibility of Bush's economic agenda, announcing last week that he will oppose efforts to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent. Voinovich said he will vote against the President's budget if necessary, and cited having possible support among other Republican colleagues of his in the so-called "Centrist Coalition," including Senators Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME), and Bennett R-UT). See this Toledo Blade article for additional information. In related news, an article in today's Washington Post reports other lawmakers, including Senator McCain (R-AZ), have been raising concerns regarding the long term costs of some of Bush's fiscal policies. The article hints that people eyeing the White House in 2008 have reason to be worried since budget costs are expected to drastically increase in the coming years.

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"Bush's Class War Budget"

Feb 11, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Read Paul Krugman's op-ed in today's NY Times, titled "Bush's Class War Budget" for a good assessment of who the winners and losers are under Bush's current budget proposal. Krugman discusses the fact that until the budget was released earlier this week, this notion of fiscal restraint has been "an abstract concept." Yet now we see this restraint tied to specific actions, and those actions will be incredibly harmful both now and in years to come, if this budget is indeed adopted by Congress.

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