I'm pretty late getting this up today, but the House of Representatives passed the FY 2010 budget resolution earlier this afternoon by a vote of 233-193. 17 Democrats voted against the resolution and not one Republican supported it. The vote also saw only 6 Blue Dog Democrats oppose the resolution out of the 51 members of that group. The Senate is currently debating the conference report agreement on the budget resolution and is expected to approve it later today.

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Academy of Public Administration are hosting a week-long, online dialogue around the question "What ideas, tools, and approaches can make Recovery.gov a place where all citizens can transparently monitor the expenditure and use of recovery funds?"

Over the years, Congress has made a number of exceptions in the tax code, ostensibly to encourage certain behavior by certain individuals or corporations. For example, homeowners can deduct from their federal income taxes the interest paid on their mortgage. Health insurance as a benefit by employers are not taxed as individual income. Had the federal government not allowed the mortgage interest deduction or employer-provide health insurance exemption, the Treasury would have seen about $184 billion (67.0 and 116.8, respectively) in more revenues in 2008 than it did.