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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more news

Next Stage of the SCHIP Debate

Oct 19, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Washington Post reports that a retooled SCHIP bill will be back on the floor in two weeks.

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Letting the Process Fit The Politics

Oct 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Inclusion(ist?) has up an interesting paper about the need to reform the budget process. Its thesis is that the budget process has been structured in a way that has successfully prioritized deficit reduction, and that these rules have focused attention more on the price of spending than its value. I won't engage the specifics of the proposal to reform the budget process. But I think it makes an important point about budget politics and process. Coincidentally, it echoes the imitable Stan Collender in his column this week:

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Let David Broder Be Praised, For He Has Written A Column Worthy of a Major US Newspaper's Op-Ed Page

Oct 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

David Broder has a good column today about the bipartisan housing trust fund, which passed the House with little notice by the press. Worth a read. Let it be known that the BudgetBlog holds no grudges or biases. You write a good column, you will be praised. You write a bad one, well...

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Food Crisis?

Oct 18, 2007 by Matt Lewis

This morning's New York Times has a story about New York City food banks whose supplies are falling futher and further behind demand. The Oregon Food Bank has been having the same problem. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), according to both food banks, is partially to blame for the rundown in available food.

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Appropriations Update: C-J-S: Senate-Approved, Veto-Threatened

Oct 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Last night, the Senate approved (75-19) the veto-threatened Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill. Next up: Labor-H October 17, 2007 House Senate Conf. Cmte. President Cmte. Floor $ Agriculture 18.8 18.7 $ Commerce-Justice- Science 53.6 54.6 54.6 Defense 459.6 459.6 459.6 $ Energy & Water 31.6 32.3 Financial Services 21.4 21.8 $ Homeland Security 36.3 37.6 37.6 $ Interior & Environment 27.6 27.2 $ Labor-HHS- Education 151.4 149.2 Legislative Branch 3.1 4

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Blackwater as a Budget Blight

Oct 17, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The war in Iraq has given rise to numerous scandals and allegations of violation of U.S. law sufficient to undermine America's moral authority abroad and at home for a long time to come. Two excellent recent write-ups shedding light on how the latest such scandal, "Blackwatergate," reflects on budget politics and beyond are below:

Blackwatergate Is Also A Big Budget Problem, Stan Collender

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Senate Takes Up Labor/HHS

Oct 17, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate is now considering the FY08 Labor/HHS appropriations bill, which includes most of the funding for federal social policy. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a good summary of what's in the bill and puts it in context. It's got about $8.3 billion over the President's request, and President Bush has threatened to veto it.

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There's Deficits, and Then There's Deficits

Oct 17, 2007 by Matt Lewis

From the good folks over at Angry Bear and Econospeak, a little common sense about the deficit: it's not really going down. The general fund deficit, that is. You see, Social Security revenues are in surplus, and a whole lot of money is being taken out of the flush Social Security trust fund to pay for current government services. This surplus has tremendously contributed to the declining unified deficit, the figure that gets most media attention. See this graph for a good representation.

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OMB's 2008 Release Dates for Economic Indicators

Oct 15, 2007 by Dana Chasin

OMB has released the 2008 schedule for the release of principal federal economic indicators. The agencies providing this information are as follows:

Foreign Agricultural Service -- www.pecad.fas.usda.gov
National Agricultural Statistics Service -- www.nass.usda.gov
World Agricultural Outlook Board -- www.usda.gov/oce/waob/index.htm
Bureau of the Census -- www.census.gov/epcd/econ/www/indijun.htm
Bureau of Economic Analysis -- www.bea.gov/bea/rels.htm
Energy Information Administration -- www.eia.doe.gov

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On the Budget Fight, Survey Says...

Oct 15, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Via the Center for American Progress, a new poll shows the public supports many of the funding increases that President Bush and his conservative congressional allies oppose.

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