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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Nussle Senate Confirmation Hearing Schedule Set

Jul 18, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The schedule of confirmation hearings for former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), the president's pick to replace Rob Portman as OMB director is as follows:

Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chair): Tuesday, July 24, 10 a.m.
Senate Budget Committee (Sen. Kent Conrad, chair): Thursday, July 26, 10 a.m.

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Approps Update

Jul 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

The House washed its hands of Energy-Water when they voted 312-112 to pass the $31.6 billion bill.
Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee handed its bill off the to Senate Appropriations Committee

Also: President Bush continues his Gregorian-esque chanting as he issues another veto threat. This time, he takes a swipe at Labor-H's massive $2 billion excess [/sarcsm] of his requested level and its language on matters related to reproductive health. The view from the outside:

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Stop the Presses: Bush Objects to Obey Cuts

Jul 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Social Spending to Stimulate the Publishing Sector? Man bites dog: the administration is balking at some cuts that House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. David Obey (D-WI) has made made to the Labor-HHS bill. A brand new veto threat of that bill, issued today, reads in part: The Administration strongly opposes the $629 million reduction in the Reading First program. While the Administration recognizes the significant issues outlined in several Inspector General reports, the Department has addressed these problems and implemented all the IG's recommendations.

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Making My Job Easier

Jul 17, 2007 by Craig Jennings

A tax on tobacco is a regressive tax, and so equity-based opposition to a tobacco tax increase generally makes sense. However, if the tax will be used to fund an expansion of a fiscally progressive program, then it is possible that the net result will be progressive. I spent some time this morning compiling info that would give some indication of how the SCHIP expansion would shake out. Well, someone has already done the yeoman's work and crunched the numbers.

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JCT Issues Reports on SCHIP Financing

Jul 16, 2007 by Craig Jennings

To fully offset a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP, the Senate Finance Committee has proposed raising tobacco taxes to about $1 per pack. The Joint Committee on Taxation released reports on the proposed revenue changes on Friday.

Estimated Revenue Effects Of The Revenue Provisions Related To The State Children's Health Insurance Program
Description Of The Revenue Provisions For Markup Of The State Children's Health Insurance Program

The five-year revenue generation from the proposed tax would be $35.7 billion, with a ten-year total of $71.1 billion.

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Approps Update

Jul 16, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Senate and House Appropriations Committees begin work this week marking up Agriculture
House Appropriations Committee will also take up Defense this week

Our story so far...

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Earmark Spending Trend in the Math, Not the Headline

Jul 16, 2007 by Dana Chasin

BNA has published a trendline comparison ($) of the number and the dollar amount of actual FY05 and proposed FY08 legislative earmarks and implies that, thus far in this year's process, numbers for both are heading down. "Of the five bills for which data had been posted July 13, earmark totals were mostly down in comparison with the 2005 figures," BNA says. We looked at BNA's findings and did some math, as follows:

Financial Services -- reduction in earmarks: 65 fewer; $150 million reduction in spending
Interior and Environment -- reductions: 1000 earmarks and $600 million

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Earmarks: Congressional Clout Clearly Quantified

Jul 12, 2007 by Dana Chasin

When Hall-of-Famer Mickey Mantle clouted the ball out of the park, the home run was called a "tape-measure shot." But no one ever actually took out a tape measure to quantify Mantle's clout. This appropriations season -- for the first time ever, thanks to earmarks disclosure -- the clout of members of Congress can be measured in dollars, down to the nearest million or so. Let's have a look at the Commerce-Justice-Science (C-J-S) bill, approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 28 by a 28-1 vote, and see how the home run derby contestants measure up.

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Just How Mad is Conrad?

Jul 11, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Mid-Session Merry-Go-Round and Tussle over Nussle The OMB Mid-Session Review today announced yet another expected reduction in the administration's earlier implausibly inflated federal budget deficit projection for the year. Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad, in response, sounded like a man dizzy from too many turns on a not-so-merry-go-round:

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Senate Subcommittee Approves Bill to Partly Defund OVP, Private Tax Collection

Jul 11, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, a part of the Senate Appropriations Committee, passed its version of the FY 2008 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill (HR 2829) by a party-line vote of 5 to 4.

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