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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Ref. C Would Lessen TABOR's Restrictions on CO Spending

Oct 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Colorado's harmful Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) -- which has contributed to a significant decline in the state's public services over the last decade -- will be at the mercy of voting Coloradoans November 1. They will have the opportunity to vote on "Referendum C," which, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "would allow the state to spend all revenues it collects under current tax rates for the next five years, even if those revenues exceed TABOR limits." The Referendum is supported by many individuals and groups, including business leaders, children’s advocates, Republican and Democrat legislators, the Denver Chamber of Commerce, and the conservative Colorado Springs City Council. A new CBPP report, "A Formula For Decline: Lessons From Colorado for States Considering TABOR," outlines the consequences other states would face if they instituted TABOR-like restrictions on their spending. TABOR, year after year, has created a maximum expenditure level in Colorado that is below what is needed for many programs, and the funding cuts have had severe effects on Colorado schools, health care programs, and other vital services.

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GOP Leadership Struggles To Save Face on Budget

Oct 20, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Although House GOP leaders dropped plans to vote on an amendment to the budget resolution to raise the level of cuts to mandatory spending from $35 billion to $50 billion, it appears GOP leaders are trying to save face by bringing a non-binding amendment, or an expression of preference, to the floor next week. The amendment would embody all four points of the "Hastert plan," including an increase in mandatory cuts to $50 billion, additional rescissions of unspent appropriations, "de-authorizing" unnecessary programs and an across-the-board cut in non-combat discretionary spending, but would do absolutely nothing to make sure those measures are actually implemented. It is unlikely the Senate will be looking to increase cuts since they are still struggling this week for consensus on just $35 billion in cuts.

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Senate Finance Committee Comes to Conclusion on Cuts

Oct 20, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Senate Finance Committee, after days of deliberation, agreed today to $10 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts, to take place over the next five years. The cuts will come primarily from Medicare, as the measure would cut $18.6 billion from the Medicare and $7.7 billion from Medicaid. It also, however, would boost spending on various Medicaid and Medicare programs. They will markup the measure early on Monday, which will pave the way for the bill to be included in the Senate Budget Committee's reconciliation package, slated to be put together October 26.

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Budget Amendment Pulled From House Schedule for Thursday

Oct 19, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

As speculated earlier today on the Budget Blog, the House GOP leadership has pulled an expected amendment to the budget resolution from Thursday's floor schedule. There is no indication currently if this is simply a delay or a cancelation of the amendment. Either way, it shows that both the GOP leadership and the conservative Republican Study Committee do not have the influence necessary to push through more drastic cuts to low-income entitlement programs in the new political enviornment post-Katrina.

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GOP Attempts to Spin Collaspe of Budget Amendment

Oct 19, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

It appears Republicans are laying the groundwork to positively spin the possible collaspe of support for an amendment to the budget resolution that would increase cuts to entitlement programs from $35 to $50 billion over the next five years. As of today, it appears the House leadership still does not have the 218 votes necessary to pass the amendment. The House leadership has already scaled back the amendment by dropping a proposal for an across-the-board 2 percent cut to discretionary programs. It remains unclear if there is enough support for increasing the mandatory cuts beyond those originally agreed upon in the resolution this past April, but a delay or cancelation of the vote on the amendment is clearly a sign of weakness for both the GOP leadership's efforts to enact deeper cuts and the Republican Study Committee's efforts to threaten the leadership for control of the House. Undetered, acting-Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-MO) declared today, "Our chairman, frankly, can do [these additional cuts] without a vote and are moving forward." He added, "I don't think the Conference is divided at all. I think we have a plan. The question is: At what point do we bring that plan to the floor." Yet Blunt did not elaborate on how he thought the leadership would be able to pass the actual reconciliation bill with $50 billion in cuts (whenever they decide to bring it to the floor) if they could not muster the suppoort for an amendment that is merely a verbal committment to pass the cuts. It is possible to use a tactic favored by this leadership group, which is holding the vote open for extended periods until they twist enough individual arms and offer enough consessions and sweateners to get the votes they need. Democracy at its finest!

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Study Adds Voice of Low-Income Americans to Debate Over Economic Divide

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there has been widespread concern that the local residents of New Orleans and other affected communities be an integral part of any and all reconstruction efforts in the Gulf Coast region. In order to embrace a similar approach in addressing deep and persistent U.S. poverty brought to light by Katrina, the Marguerite Casey Foundation commissioned a comprehensive study looking at attitudes of Americans, particularly those of low-income families, before and after Hurricane Katrina.

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Republicans Use Katrina To Push For More Drastic Cuts

The debate in Congress over fiscal priorities has taken a turn toward radical conservatism this week, as the right-wing members of the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) have gained the upper hand in their push for increased cuts in the budget resolution. As Congress returns from its October recess this week, House GOP leaders are planning to amend the budget resolution to include more drastic cuts to mandatory and discretionary spending, ostensibly to pay for rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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Chambliss Drops Plans to Cut Food Stamps

Oct 18, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Agriculture Committee in the Senate is required under the FY06 budget reconciliation instructions to cut to cut $3 billion from mandatory agriculture programs. One of the programs at risk of being cut was the food stamp program, however today Senate Ag Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) dropped plans to cut the program by $574 million. They would have achieved their savings in the food stamp program by requiring families receiving non-cash state welfare assistance -- who are currently automatically eligible for food stamps -- to apply separately. This would have brought down the number of families who use the program. Instead, he will reduce the amount of money farmers can get in certain farm subsidy payments that are made in advance. According to CongressDaily, "The change in the percentage of direct payments a farmer can get early in the year raises the savings from $518 million in Chambliss' first plan to almost $1.1 billion. The impact is to deny farmers the use of that money during the production season. Farmers will continue to get the full direct payment promised under the 2002 farm bill minus a 2.5 percent reduction in all farm programs, but making the payment later in the year creates budget savings." NY Times Coverage

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Congress Mistakenly Focusing On Katrina Spending As Top Fiscal Danger

Although conservatives in the House and Senate have been squealing over the past few weeks that budget cuts are necessary to offset spending for Gulf Coast reconstruction, in reality Hurricane Katrina will have little effect on long-term deficits.

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House Drops Plans for Across-the-Board Cuts

Oct 18, 2005 by Guest Blogger

CongressDaily reported this morning that House GOP leaders have decided to drop plans for now to include across-the-board cuts to FY 2006 discretionary spending as part of an amendment to the budget resolution which was passed last April. Although across-the-board cuts have been dropped, the amendment is still expected to call for $50 billion in entitlement cuts, which is an increase from the $35 billion designated in the original FY06 budget blueprint. This amendment could be on the floor as early as Thursday. The cuts were dropped partly because of the belief that committing so soon to them would hamper negotiations with the Senate on FY06 spending bills, said GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio. The Senate does not have plans to consider a similar budget amendment, and members are currently focused on the reconciliation process, which begins today. Senate Republicans are looking for additional budget cuts, but the Finance Committee, last night, was unable to coalesce around a plan to cut at least $10 billion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The deadline for the committee to finish work on the package is quickly approaching, and because Finance Committee rules require 48 hours' notice before a markup can take place, Grassley has convened a meeting this morning in the hopes of reaching an agreement. The Budget Committee is supposed to mark up a reconciliation bill incorporating bills from all committees by Oct. 26. If they do not do so, it could open the door to procedural hang-ups, and according to Finance Committee ranking member Max Bauuus (D-MT), "presumably any senator could offer a motion to recommit." Also on Monday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) acknowledged that the committee might not be able to produce enough revenue-raising offsets to extend all tax cuts expiring this year under the budget reconciliation process. He did insist, however, that Congress would be able to pass a tax cut reconciliation package this fall, saying, "We can do the $70 billion without any problem."

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