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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Oil Tax Subsidies in Budget Reconciliation Bill

Feb 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Buried deep within the budget reconciliation bill are billions of dollars worth of tax subsidies. As this article points out, the subsidies do not come from oil, but from "the marketing of a dubious concoction of synthetic fuel produced from coal and dependent on government tax credits tied to the price of oil." Specificallyy, the bill reverts the price of a barrel of crude oil back to the amount it sold for two years ago. This "pretend price" benefits a small group of politically well connected investors and companies. CNN.com: A Magic Way to Make Billions

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Cost of Supplemental War Spending in Your State

Feb 22, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Last week the White House issued a request for an additional $72 billion in supplemental funding for war costs. To find out how this cost plays out in your specific state, check out the National Priorities Project website.

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Bush Budget Cuts Target EPA Libraries

President Bush's proposed budget for 2007 includes deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Library Network, which EPA staff and the public rely on for research, policy making and advocacy efforts. According to internal EPA documents, the proposed cuts would force the EPA to close its headquarters library, discontinue its Online Library System electronic catalogue, and shut the doors of many of the libraries operating in EPA's 10 regions.

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More Dishonest War Budgeting from White House

President George Bush is continuing his piecemeal approach to funding U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite rebukes by Congress including last year's stinging one by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). On Feb. 17, Bush sent another supplemental request of $72.4 billion for war funding for the remainder of this fiscal year, leading critics to note that it is impossible to know how much the war efforts are really costing.

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Lobby Reform Continues to Overlook Budget Process

As Congress toils through the process of establishing self-regulation of lobbying and ethics issues, most proposals continue to overlook budget process reform that is critically needed to address corruption and open the process in Washington. Despite new legislation recently introduced that to some extent addresses the role of the budget process in the larger reform picture, no proposal gets all the parts right, nor does any go far enough to truly have a significant impact.

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Budget Gimmicks in Bush's FY07 Proposal

Feb 19, 2006 by Guest Blogger

President Bush's FY 2007 budget includes two proposals that mask the true cost of extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which Bush claims to be one of his najor goals in 2006. As this Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report states,

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White House Requests $92.2 Billion Supplemental

Feb 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The White House submitted a $92.2 billion FY2006 supplemental spending request yesterday, which includes $72.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and intelligence activities, and $19.8 billion for Gulf Coast rebuilding costs. The Pentagon, which currently spends about $6.8 billion per month, will receive $65.3 billion to get through the current fiscal year.

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House Budget Committee Hearing on PART

Feb 16, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The House Budget Committee held a hearing today on performance evaluations and spending trends. Clay Johnson of the Office of Management and Budget testified, along with Brian Reidl of the Heritage Foundation and Bob Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Johnson spoke of the importance of accountability in government spending as well as OMB's new performance website, but refused to recognize the hypocrisy surrounding some of the budget decisions made after these programs are evaluated by OMB's standards. Testimony and opening remarks are below:

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Less Funding for Grants to Religious Groups, Study Shows

Feb 15, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Yesterday a nonpartisan group released a study claiming that the amount of federal grants given to faith-based organizations has declined from 2002 to 2004, as the total amount of funding available for federal grants has decreased over the past three years. The study was conducted by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. The group examined 28,000 grants made by nine federal agencies over three years. Kay Guinane of OMB Watch was quoted yesterday in a Washington Post article about the study, staying that it:

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Democrats Call for Budget Bill Revote

Feb 14, 2006 by Guest Blogger

After internal party debate, Democrats have decided to call for a revote on the budget reconciliation bill which recently passed the House by an extremely close vote of 216-214. The bill ran into trouble when it became known that the President signed a different version than that which was passed by Congress. Because the cuts passed in the bill are so contentious, Democrats have chosen to put the spotlight back on the issue by calling for a revote, as opposed to allowing the fixed bill to pass easily under unanimous-consent agreements.

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