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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OMB Watch Set to Launch FedSpending v2.0

Feb 22, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

OMB Watch will be releasing an updated version of our popular website FedSpending.org later today. FedSpending.org allows users to search and download extensive information about government spending going back to FY 2000, from contracts to grants, loans, insurance payments, and direct spending. Below are some preview screenshots of the new look and features of the website. The new site will go live later this afternoon. Be sure to check it out and explore the new features. New FedSpending.org Homepage with Features(click to englarge) Added Summary Outputs with Trend Chart(click to englarge)

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Congress Finally Finishes FY 07 Appropriations

It took four extra months and a new Congress, but on Feb. 14, lawmakers finished the FY 2007 appropriations cycle when the Senate passed H.J.Res. 20. The $463.5 billion spending bill passed 81-15. The President signed the bill the next day, just in time to prevent a government shutdown.

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CBPP on Declining Domestic Spending

Feb 20, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities's Robert Greenstein gave testimony to Congress last week. It's a great summary of CBPP's invaluable work on appropriation levels. Bottom line: overall government spending may have increased under Bush, but, depending on how you measure it, real spending on discretionary social programs has either declined or increased only marginally. UPDATE: I should qualify what I said a bit. Not everything was that awesome. This made me mad: ï»¿ It is in the tax

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Senate Passes CR

Feb 15, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate passed the CR last night. It is the same as the House version. The President should sign it today to avoid a government shutdown. The Washington Post: Four and a half months after the legal deadline, the Senate gave final approval to a 2007 spending plan that funds almost half the federal government and averts any chance of a government shutdown.

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Senate Set to Approve FY 2007 CR

Feb 14, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

By a 71-26 vote yesterday, the Senate moved closer to approving the FY 2007 CR passed by the House last week (covered here), with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-TN) and 22 other GOP members joining all but one Democrat to close debate and move to a final vote, which could come later today.

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President Proposes Unrealistic Cuts to Veteran's Health

Feb 13, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Bush budget plays games with funding for veteran's health care. The Washington Post reports: WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's budget assumes cuts to funding for veterans' health care two years from now _ even as badly wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system. Bush is using the cuts, critics say, to help fulfill his pledge to balance the budget by 2012. But even administration allies say the numbers are not real and are being used to make the overall budget picture look better.

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Dionne on President's Budget

Feb 9, 2007 by Matt Lewis

EJ Dionne's column on budget trade-offs and priorities is a good read. This president will defend tax cuts by any means necessary. It was one of those moments when a public official gives away a larger truth by offering what seems to be a throwaway line. Testifying this week on President Bush's budget, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. suggested he would not mind a bit if the Democratic Congress added money to prevent cutbacks in coverage under the federal government's children's health insurance program.

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Ensign of the Times: Suddenly Suspicious of Supplementals

Feb 8, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a cloture petition and filled the amendment tree, limiting debate on the must-pass FY 2007 CR. GOP Senators, dismayed by the $3 billion cut in BRAC in the House version of the CR, seem unmollified by assurances from Reid and Appropriations chair Robert Byrd (D-WV) that the funding would be restored in the upcoming $100 billion-plus supplemental war spending bill, which is not subject to spending caps.

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OMB Watch Releases Analysis of Bush FY 08 Budget Request

During the week of Feb. 5, OMB Watch issued a multipart analysis of President George W. Bush's Fiscal Year 2008 budget request to Congress. In an overview of the president's budget, OMB Watch examined the overall impact of the request and found that it puts tax cuts ahead of domestic needs. The budget uses gimmicks and omissions to mask the true impact of the president's proposals and allows him to project an artificially balanced budget.

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President Rehashes Tired Old Budget Process Reform Proposals

The Analytical Perspectives portion of President Bush's proposed budget includes a section that outlines seven budget process reform proposals. Six of them are updated versions of proposals from previous years, while one is new, covering earmark reform.

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