Earlier this week, the House passed an unusual bill that authorizes advance appropriations for Veterans Affairs (VA) funding.  HR 1016 means that Congress will create two budgets this year, one for the current 2010 appropriations cycle, and a future budget for 2011.  Subsequent years will produce budgets that are at least a year ahead.  For the VA department, which has been plagued in recent years by reports of patient neglect and poor management, this will hopefully be the first step towards better service delivery.

The Obama Administration continues to look for ways to find tax revenue and as a result, several significant tax breaks for multinational companies may be on the chopping block.  During the Bush and Clinton Administrations, it became easier for controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) to conduct financial transactions between offshore subsidiaries at much-lower effective tax rates (or in some cases, tax-free).  If Obama gets his wish, these tax breaks will not be renewed at the end of 2010 and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates will result in an increase of $31-86.5 billion in tax revenue from 2011-2019.

After clearing the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Jeffrey D. Zients was approved by the full Senate as the government's first-ever Chief Performance Officer.  In addition to his CPO duties, Zients will also serve as Deputy Director of Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).